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Last night, I think I was interviewed. I live in a nice quiet neighborhood. About 9:30 my door bell rings. I look though the peep hole and see a clean cut, early 20ish male standing well back from the door. I blade away, place my hand on my pistol, unlock and open the door part way with my weak hand. The young man begins to tell me about this large tarantula in my front yard, "the largest I have ever seen, larger than my hand, you need to see this" he said. I instantly went from condition orange to condition red. While closing the door I told him if it was that large he should call animal control. The whole thing could not have lasted more than 10 seconds. This was so off the wall, I think he was trying to draw me out from inside. I thought about calling the police, but he had really done nothing wrong. Other than not opening the door, what would others have done?

As I have stated in other posts I live in a new subdivision that has seen a lot of break-ins, home invasions, and sketchy "salesmen". I also do not know anyone in SA so anyone that does come to my door is a stranger so naturally I am more cautious than most when answering my door.

I would have done exactly as you did only as soon as the door was closed I would have called the non-emergency number and informed them of the suspicious person. It is up to them if they want to send a patrol out but at least this way they are informed.

I am curious as to why you referred to it as an interview?

I think he was trying to draw me out from inside.

Yep. Otherwise he was a complete lunatic, which also is a category of person you don't want to pal around with.

I personally have never had 911 dispatchers tell me that I should not have called. They would rather make a note of suspicious behavior and have an officer cruise by in his spare time if possible.

There are stupid, time-wasting 911 calls like squirrels in the attic or cold French fries at Burger King, but weird human activity after dark is definitely in their purview.

The only thing I would add is that electronics have become so inexpensive that there is no excuse for not having cameras and intercoms at the outside doors.

- Jim

DONT TREAD ON ME wrote:I am curious as to why you referred to it as an interview?

It's a slang term used occasionally to describe an encounter in which the other person is clearly either probing for intelligence to be used against the respondent, or trying to lure the respondent into a bad situation.

DONT TREAD ON ME wrote:I am curious as to why you referred to it as an interview?

Me too, I was think we were going to be able to see one of our forum member on TV.

It does sound suspicious that he wanted to show you a tarantula in your yard at 9:30PM.

paulhailes wrote:

DONT TREAD ON ME wrote:I am curious as to why you referred to it as an interview?

Me too, I was think we were going to be able to see one of our forum member on TV.

It does sound suspicious that he wanted to show you a tarantula in your yard at 9:30PM.

See my answer above. You'll see that term used on this board occasionally. See the following links:

• viewtopic.php?f=26&t=47252&p=577582&hil ... ew#p577582
• viewtopic.php?f=26&t=32343&p=393874&hil ... ew#p393874
• viewtopic.php?f=26&t=31619&p=368052&hil ... ew#p368052
• viewtopic.php?f=26&t=31619&p=368048&hil ... ew#p368048
• viewtopic.php?f=26&t=18881&p=215557&hil ... ew#p215557
• viewtopic.php?f=26&t=16138&p=185212&hil ... ew#p185212

Those are just a few examples. There are many more.

D T O Me
I felt I was being "interviewed" to see if I was an easy mark.
This has bothered me all day. I guess I should have called police. In hind sight if it ever happens again, I will make the call.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

DONT TREAD ON ME wrote:I am curious as to why you referred to it as an interview?

It's a slang term used occasionally to describe an encounter in which the other person is clearly either probing for intelligence to be used against the respondent, or trying to lure the respondent into a bad situation.

Much appreciated Never heard it used in this way. Guess I am really out of touch and it has been almost a year since I have been on the forum.

DONT TREAD ON ME wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:

DONT TREAD ON ME wrote:I am curious as to why you referred to it as an interview?

It's a slang term used occasionally to describe an encounter in which the other person is clearly either probing for intelligence to be used against the respondent, or trying to lure the respondent into a bad situation.

Much appreciated Never heard it used in this way. Guess I am really out of touch and it has been almost a year since I have been on the forum.

It is a word used in LE also. Before they question a suspect, they interview a person of interest. AKA, trying to get information without being too obvious. I do that in many situations. Old habit.

Forgive me....but that's where the story ends? You didn't peer out windows after that to see what he did? If he went to other houses? You didn't slip out your back door to make sure he wasn't still out there trying to find another way in?

You just closed the door after telling him to call animal control?



My .02 cents.

Chucky-B

glock27 wrote:pull out your gun and say "where at imma shoot it!!!!" and see him scatter off

works for me.

This week I got a young man clean cut with 3 rings binder. His story, he is an employee from platinum co subdivision of GE who would to offer security system upgrade for FREE including cell phone module, morion detectors, etc. As long as we post their sign in the front yard and we are vocal about their system. I asked him to see his litratue docs and it seemed legit. However, he asked for entry in my house to explain the offer. I rufused to let him and he was insisting for letting him in. I got spooked and told him I am not interested.

Was my home being cased or just an honest young guy he wants to make a buck?

donniet wrote:Last night, I think I was interviewed. I live in a nice quiet neighborhood. About 9:30 my door bell rings. I look though the peep hole and see a clean cut, early 20ish male standing well back from the door. I blade away, place my hand on my pistol, unlock and open the door part way with my weak hand. The young man begins to tell me about this large tarantula in my front yard, "the largest I have ever seen, larger than my hand, you need to see this" he said. I instantly went from condition orange to condition red. While closing the door I told him if it was that large he should call animal control. The whole thing could not have lasted more than 10 seconds. This was so off the wall, I think he was trying to draw me out from inside. I thought about calling the police, but he had really done nothing wrong. Other than not opening the door, what would others have done?

There is absolutely no doubt the subject was attempting to either lure you out of your house, or get you to open the door wider so he could barge in. Neither would have anything to do with a spider (which would be pretty difficult to spot by chance at 9:30 PM on the lawn), and if you had provided the opportunity your visitor would have taken full advantage of it.

Your instincts were spot on, and you dealt with the situation successfully in that you didn't suffer injury or loss or have to engage in a physical confrontation.

Some after action points you might want to consider:

1. Once you've unlocked a door and opened it even a crack, it's extremely easy for someone outside to charge the door, knock you off balance, and be on top of you in the blink of an eye. If you don't know the party on the other side, the door should not be unlocked at all. Seamus' suggestions about intercoms and cameras makes finding out what the party wants easier (I use an intercom myself), but speaking through the closed and locked door works well enough to get the job done.

2. Since the subject was unsuccessful at your door, there is an extremely high likelihood he would have gone on to try something similar at a nearby residence. Making the call immediately might either prevent a crime if he could be intercepted before another attempt, or might facilitate the response to a home invasion which might have started a minute or two after you closed your door. At the very least, the time, description, and approach details would be extremely valuable in furthering the investigation of similar incidents that you're not aware of but have been reported, and may well have progressed much further than yours.

Forget trying to rationalize how come you shouldn't call the police after something causes you to go into condition red. Here's the rule of thumb from the police side:

Better one call too many than one call too few.