COLOSHOOTR
Member
You definitely were not paranoid. In my experience the stopping and putting the cell phone up every time is a definite clue that he was up to no good. He likely was going to commit a crime either against you or the store itself but you taking notice spooked him off. Easy targets don't pay any attention and what he thought may be a easy target ended up being way more aware of his surroundings than he probably expected. I don't see how anyone could take him for security as he pulled up in a vehicle and then scurried back out of the store and drove off. Most of the time loss prevention stays in the store and they definitely are not going to run off because a 60 year old man noticed them.
Back to the phone deal for a minute. I've been a Police Officer for awhile now and work at a fairly large metro area agency so I have a little experience dealing with crime / bad people. We have cameras posted all over the place in our high crime areas and can watch the drug dealers perform hand to hand deals right on the street corners. Then we pull up in those super obvious vehicles with the red/blue roof racks and reflective stickers all over. What's the first thing they do 90% of the time? Thats right they pull out a phone and pretend to be talking on it like they are usually doing nothing wrong. Then when we contact them they were just waiting for their ride and we are harassing them according to them usually because of their race not the fact we were watching them deal drugs.
Here is one place where you do seem to be a little paranoid. I don't know if people here are rubbing off on you but why not call Police? Sure, he may not have done anything illegal yet but, he definitely made you suspicious enough that you were alarmed and it continued to bother you enough to post about it here. That is definitely reasonable suspicion and would justify a Police contact. You are not going to get in any trouble for calling because you felt something was off about the guy. Who knows maybe Officers would have had nothing on him then he'd just be ID'd and released. Or just maybe this guy is a suspect wanted in half a dozen street robberies and your call could have cracked the case but instead you decide not to call and even mention later in the thead that you were worried about being accused of harassment. That's freaking paranoia right there! A call to Police was definitely warranted and I would not have been upset to respond to such a call. In fact I'd rather get the call and contact the guy just to find out it was a misunderstanding and he is smooth than to not go and have him actually be a criminal that ends up hurting someone later on during his next robbery.
Back to the phone deal for a minute. I've been a Police Officer for awhile now and work at a fairly large metro area agency so I have a little experience dealing with crime / bad people. We have cameras posted all over the place in our high crime areas and can watch the drug dealers perform hand to hand deals right on the street corners. Then we pull up in those super obvious vehicles with the red/blue roof racks and reflective stickers all over. What's the first thing they do 90% of the time? Thats right they pull out a phone and pretend to be talking on it like they are usually doing nothing wrong. Then when we contact them they were just waiting for their ride and we are harassing them according to them usually because of their race not the fact we were watching them deal drugs.
Here is one place where you do seem to be a little paranoid. I don't know if people here are rubbing off on you but why not call Police? Sure, he may not have done anything illegal yet but, he definitely made you suspicious enough that you were alarmed and it continued to bother you enough to post about it here. That is definitely reasonable suspicion and would justify a Police contact. You are not going to get in any trouble for calling because you felt something was off about the guy. Who knows maybe Officers would have had nothing on him then he'd just be ID'd and released. Or just maybe this guy is a suspect wanted in half a dozen street robberies and your call could have cracked the case but instead you decide not to call and even mention later in the thead that you were worried about being accused of harassment. That's freaking paranoia right there! A call to Police was definitely warranted and I would not have been upset to respond to such a call. In fact I'd rather get the call and contact the guy just to find out it was a misunderstanding and he is smooth than to not go and have him actually be a criminal that ends up hurting someone later on during his next robbery.