[Cisco Kid]

They still could be scouts for evil doers, with a good cover story.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by redwitch

A landscaper stopped by a house on Fenwick to see how the yard was doing. He was in his personal vehicle. He got out of the car and pulled a few weeds and left. As he was leaving via the Sanibel gate, the police came roaring in. The police turned around and pulled him over. They had gotten a call that two black men had been checking out the house.

To say the landscaper is upset is putting it mildly. No one asked him what he was doing at the house although he felt it was pretty obvious since he had not been near the house itself.

So, were people being good neighbors in calling the police? Would they have called the police had this been two white men in the yard? What would you have done?

Get the license plate number and take down a description of the men and their car would be a better solution. Also ask the home owner about the landscaper they have.

A lot of the landscapers who work in the Villages are minorities. I do believe a little paranoia is healthy in this world but so is common sense. There are more reasonable approaches to this situation like taking notes about license plate numbers. You can even use a cell phone to take pictures of the car, men or women, etc.

[bkcunningham1]

Last week, I was on Eastfield Path and saw a man standing around an unmarked, beat-up looking car parked on the road beside a house. I was in my golf cart and doubled around the street a few times and watched him from a safe distance. IMHO, he was acting very strange and had a large machete on his side. As I was getting ready to call the police, a neighbor's garage door went up and a couple came outside.

I went over and asked them if they knew what the guy was doing. They said they wondered the same thing when he came the day before. But it turns out he was doing some weeding and landscaping. I wasn't going to go over to a man with a machete hanging on his side and ask what he was doing in someone's yard. If the neighbors hadn't come outside when they did, I would have called the police without flinching.

It is instilled in me to call the police when I or someone else needs help, or if I see someone doing something that could cause harm to another. If I had called the police I know they would have asked for a description of the man and the vehicle. I would have gladly told them the color of the car and the man-who btw was white .

[Madelaine Amee]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

In answer to your question, yes, I think we are getting too paranoid.
I guess I'm a minority of one. I would definitely NOT have called the police.
I might have watched someone who looked out of place, to see what they were doing.
If he pulled weeds, I would have assumed that he was under contract to the homeowner to pull weeds on the lawn.
If he looked in the windows and tried to open the lanai door, I might have been concerned.
But he was only pulling some weeds.
I think it's a big over reaction to call police on a man who stops and does some gardening.
I don't blame the landscaper for being upset.

No, Bare, we are a minority of TWO! I have a gardener, she actually owns the company that cuts my lawn and does trimming etc. She comes to my home once a month to weed and clean up my flower beds, she works both in the back and the front of my home and she drives an unmarked truck! No one has ever called the police while she is on my property.

[quirky3]

Bonanza and JaniceOhio, excellent points!!

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by JaniceOhio

You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be carefully taught.

"South Pacific" .... 1949

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnY-Ft7F9eo

That is if you were deciding that they were up to something because of color.

If someone gets their feelings hurt because someone reported them because they are walking around a yard without bags for weeding, without trimmers, without some kind of landscaping equipment driving an unmarked car, they are going to have to get a little bit tougher.

Sometimes people's political correctness goes way too far.

AND to those naysayers, we aren't talking about the song above and what it means, we are talking about a situation that if someone was purple with stripes would raise some questions, IN THE LIGHT of recent burglaries.

Remember last fall what that young pest control guy saw two young guys and they had an unmarked car and one was walking around in someone's yard and the pest guy called the sheriff? Would you like me to link you to their mugshots?

[quirky3]

That's one of the nice things about this forum - all viewpoints are welcome, and we can agree to disagree.

[wudda1955]

And, again, did the color of the landscaper factor into the police being called rather than just going over and asking him?

To answer this question, you'd have to ask the person who called it in. The majority here seem not to care--they would have called no matter the race of the person involved.

[graciegirl]

After you read people's opinions for awhile you learn to expect certain views and attitudes. I know people aren't surprised by what I say most of the time and I am not surprised by what you say Quirky and what Redwitch says.

I doubt that your views will change what I think and my views will change what you think.


Yesterday there was a mugshot on the online news of a young man of 21 who was arrested for stealing a large amount of things from a home in Lady Lake. He had beautiful features and could have been a male model, his face was young and beautiful and I thought how shamed his mother must be. I could not understand how a young, healthy and very handsome young man couldn't just work to take care of what he needs in life.

If my grandchildren worked here in The Villages as landscapers, I would tell them to put something on their car to identify themselves and to avoid doing anything that could be construed as entering a property without an obvious purpose.

And if they didn't and the police were called to question them, I wouldn't feel sorry for them.

That is the difference. I don't expect anyone to act in anyway that I would not expect from myself, my children or my grandchildren. You have to learn to live in the real world.

[BobnBev]

Why is it that some people always bring race into a discussion. Is it just to stir the pot?

[shcisamax]

About six months ago, in the midst of the robberies, two men got out of an unmarked little truck and were looking around at the landscaping of my neighbor. They pulled a few weeds and then as they were getting in the truck, my friend and I asked what they were doing. They said they were from Massey. We took the license plate and called the police who said to call community watch. Meanwhile my friend called Massey who said they have no vehicles without the Massey logo. When someone asks you to describe someone, honestly, instead of saying he has black hair and brown eyes, don't you think it gives a better description to say he is African American? (And yes, if he had green or blue eyes say African American with green or blue eyes). If you just say he has black hair and brown eyes, well, that sort of doesn't give a very good description, does it. If someone were asian, would you leave out that piece of info? It has nothing to do with being racist and all to do with giving the best description you can.
As it turned out, they were from Massey but hadn't had their truck painted yet. But, I am all for being safe than sorry. Sometimes, the bad guys are just scoping out the neighborhood in general. I would call again in a heartbeat.

[sunnyatlast]

Originally Posted by Madelaine Amee

No, Bare, we are a minority of TWO! I have a gardener, she actually owns the company that cuts my lawn and does trimming etc. She comes to my home once a month to weed and clean up my flower beds, she works both in the back and the front of my home and she drives an unmarked truck! No one has ever called the police while she is on my property.

One incident with one call to the police--in a city of 105,000--about what happened to be a black man behaving suspiciously is hardly reason to stereotype and label everybody else a bigot, and then declare oneself and another as the only two here who are loftily not bigots.

In fact it seems quite bigoted to me to assume the neighbors wouldn't have called police on a caucasian man doing the same thing.

Nobody knows what everybody thinks individually in this city or on this forum.

[TheVillageChicken]

When you call the police to report a suspicious person, they will ask for a description. They will always ask what race the suspicious person is. Nothing to see here folks...move along.

[MarkinMd]

I recently ( 10 months ago) retired from a police department. I know I've told people thousands of times if they see something that they believe is suspicious call immediately. Do not wait until the person(s) leave. Those few minutes are many times the difference in solving a case or not. Most people told me they didn't want to waste the police officers time. Again, call immediately. And yes in fact most of the times their wasn't anything to it, but I would much prefer responding to a call like that than a burglary or worse.
Also , in the above case the person was 100 % correct to call the police. I have arrested many burglars that used deception techniques. Knocking on doors with clipboards selling whatever, car out of gas, etc.
The fact that he was hired and checking on the weed conditions doesn't mean anything. He could be pulling weeds and breaking into homes. It still sounds suspicious to me.

[sunnyatlast]

Originally Posted by markinmd

i recently ( 10 months ago) retired from a police department. I know i've told people thousands of times if they see something that they believe is suspicious call immediately. Do not wait until the person(s) leave. Those few minutes are many times the difference in solving a case or not. Most people told me they didn't want to waste the police officers time. Again, call immediately. And yes in fact most of the times their wasn't anything to it, but i would much prefer responding to a call like that than a burglary or worse.
Also , in the above case the person was 100 % correct to call the police. I have arrested many burglars that used deception techniques. Knocking on doors with clipboards selling whatever, car out of gas, etc.
The fact that he was hired and checking on the weed conditions doesn't mean anything. He could be pulling weeds and breaking into homes. It still sounds suspicious to me.

thank you!