would you take a picture if you saw someone sketchy staring at your bike? | GTAMotorcycle.com

would you take a picture if you saw someone sketchy staring at your bike?

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ice05

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sorry bit of a long story to ask a simple question: Ok so maybe ive gone off the deep end... I was warming up my bike and there was this guy who I've never seen in my neigbourhood before. I see hes walkin slowly like he has no purpose up and down the sidewalk. I back up my car to take the bike out and hes still pacing between my house and my neigbour's...
I go inside to grab something (I can see my bike but with the screen door I guess you cant see in)
I see said guy stop in front of my driveway and just stand there staring at my bike...
It weirds me out because as I open the door to let him know I still have an eye on the bike..he starts pacing again but never very far...

sooo I whip out my phone and take a few pics of him as I step out to lock my door...if something goes down (yes I know I have a lowly 250 but I love it anyway!) I at least have a starting point?

As Im gearing to go...guy starts calling out to me saying "did you take my picture"
ME: "yes I did"
Him: "you have no right to take a pic of me"
Me: youre pacing back in forth in front of my property, ive never seen you before, you stop and stare at my bike and are there with no purpose. I am protective of my property so yes I did.
Him: This is your property? (indicating the sidewalk)
Me: I took a pic from my porch so yes I took a pic of you on my property
Him: (going on a rant) I dont care about your bike This is canada no one steals bikes (yes he did say it).
Me: Regardless of where it is...my property(ies) my right to do what I can to protect it
Him: yelling at me again (something about being in Canada and how im taking a picture of HIM...how would I feel if He took a pic of ME...)
Me: Sir, anyone who did what you did I would do the exact same thing no matter the age, race, gender...IF you have an issue I will stay right here, you can go right ahead and call the cops (since he was loosing it at this point). Also if you take a pic of me while im on my property no where near yours (wherever that is)...theres no rationale and would be very problematic having pictures of a stranger on their own property on your phone.
Him: (to the person he was apparently talkin on the phone one with his headset)...well she took my picture I want to know why! she has no right..as he walks away not resolving anything.

Sooo to summarize: if it was you and you see someone questionable...would you take a pic? are there cases where this ISNT ok?

I dont know what I coulda done outside of that...but now im worried im gonna come home to keyed car or a pushed over bike from this guy...
 
ice05 said:
Sooo to summarize: if it was you and you see someone questionable...would you take a pic? are there cases where this ISNT ok?
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It would be one thing if you were outside and taking pictures of someone inside a private dwelling through the windows, or if you were using a shoe-cam to do up-skirt shots or pictures under a washroom stall door. There is a reasonable expectation of privacy in those circumstances that simply does not exist in a public space.

A person on a public sidewalk, in a park (but not inside a personal tent), in a public restaurant or mall, etc has no reasonable expectation of privacy. You can take pictures. It might be considered rude, but it's not illegal.
 
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Never thought about taking a picture, but I have approached individuals on my street that looked out of place and asked them if they needed any help. :D "May I help you" It's a nice way to ask, WTF are you doing? I've had a couple of guys in a Matrix drive off as I as approaching their vehicle with my 100lb dog.
 
Did he look like a homeless/crazy guy? or just a regular guy? also did you see where he went? if he went and got in a car and drove off then yes i would think it was fishy for sure. But if it turns out he just lived around the corner and was out for a walk he might have just been that he has an interest in bikes and was admiring it. But the fact that he kept walking away then coming back when you went into the house again seems odd. I don't see anything wrong with you having taken his pic.
 
britor said:
Did he look like a homeless/crazy guy? or just a regular guy? also did you see where he went? if he went and got in a car and drove off then yes i would think it was fishy for sure. But if it turns out he just lived around the corner and was out for a walk he might have just been that he has an interest in bikes and was admiring it. But the fact that he kept walking away then coming back when you went into the house again seems odd. I don't see anything wrong with you having taken his pic.
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he didnt look homeless...he was wearin a shirt and was holding a device (i thought i may have been an mp3 player, turns out it was his phone) and the guy was just pacing between two houses, mine and my next door neighbors..When he gestured He just gestured he lived "there"...
I was waiting for him to say "hi" "nice bike" something but he didnt and it did freak me out the staring and moving as soon as I opened the door and he saw me.
Its my dad's house I was visiting but I (at least I thought I did) knew all the close neighbours as I did live in the neighborhood for 8 years and visit every single week.

In hindsight I should have done what Metastable did and just asked him a question...but I am not a very big girl... and the dude was substantially talkin than me so at the time automatic thought was pic was safer. Next time I will try words...from a distance?
 
I would say... Good job. I was actually in a similar situation some years back and the Cops that I end up sending the pictures to were very pleased to say the least.
 
2 things:

-When u see him pacing your bike, u should have just removed the key while u walked in.
-When he asked u if u took his pic, u should've said NO. Problem solved, nothing for him to be angry about
 
Would I? Absolutely. Hell, I'm looking at putting a couple of motion activated IP cameras up, shooting just my property.

Do not put your key in your bike and walk away. Ever. It doesn't need to be warmed up for that long and you're just begging for someone to take off with it.
 
You did nothing wrong. Talking could backfire, if dude had bad intentions, and you're just a girl in a driveway... it could give him chance to get closer... it's easy to get paranoid just thinking about it...
Trust your instincts, we have them for a reason.
 
Photos in public are legal. In response to the question, yeah, I'd do the same. I also shoot L.P.'s of cars I don't recognize. Agree with RobM... don't every leave that key in there.
 
jonnyhockey said:
Maybe he thought you were a hottie, and just couldn't muster up the courage to talk to you?
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umm he was waay over middle age...and I dont think im hot at all (even with a helmet on) so definitely not but I appreciate the humor there. lol.

RockerGuy said:
2 things:

-When he asked u if u took his pic, u should've said NO. Problem solved, nothing for him to be angry about
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in hindisight I could have but he was pretty belligerent. Also, at that point I wanted him to know I have a picture of him in case he decided to do something dumb... kinda a lose lose on that situation I guess.

Rob MacLennan said:
Do not put your key in your bike and walk away. Ever. It doesn't need to be warmed up for that long and you're just begging for someone to take off with it.
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definitely will not be doing that anymore...no matter how hot the sun is. I did take the key out when he was still hanging around (before he confronted me)... It was weird he didnt ask about me takin a picture right when I did it..I wasnt sneaky about it... but AFTER I had taken my key out of the bike to grab my gloves.
Im a bit ashamed to say bike is still not broken in so it takes forever to get it goin but never gonna leave keys in it again.
 
You did the smart thing. You might take it even further and go to your local police station and speak to the neighbourhood watch liason and provide them the picture. Maybe the guy's just weird but maybe he's casing things out. Better safe than sorry. I live in a rural area and a few weeks ago noticed three or four vehicles pulled up on the side of the road. I started walking over to see if they were lost or needed help and saw a whole bunch of people milling about. Two guys walked into my neighbour's field and dropped trou and started to crap. I yelled and all I got was "No speak English". I whipped out my phone and started taking pics and the whole tribe bolted for their vehicles. Geniuses forgot one of the vans had a business name and phone number pastered all over it. Classy bunch of people.
 
I would have done the same. I still wish I had gotten shots of the neighbourhood crackhead. I have a flock of new skeets who just moved in across the street from me and one skeet walked around the trailer eyeballing our bikes when we got home last Monday. Instead of taking a pic, I just stood there in the driveway and bore a hole through his skull with my gaze. Pictures are probably better. ;)
 
stormcat said:
I would have done the same. I still wish I had gotten shots of the neighbourhood crackhead. I have a flock of new skeets who just moved in across the street from me and one skeet walked around the trailer eyeballing our bikes when we got home last Monday. Instead of taking a pic, I just stood there in the driveway and bore a hole through his skull with my gaze. Pictures are probably better. ;)
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Yeh, I'm sure he enjoys women staring at him. He don't get that everyday :D
 
i'd stab him through the neck if i saw someone even look at my bike. that seems to be an appropriate response.
 
CanadianBiker said:
I live in a rural area and a few weeks ago noticed three or four vehicles pulled up on the side of the road. I started walking over to see if they were lost or needed help and saw a whole bunch of people milling about. Two guys walked into my neighbour's field and dropped trou and started to crap. I yelled and all I got was "No speak English". I whipped out my phone and started taking pics and the whole tribe bolted for their vehicles. Geniuses forgot one of the vans had a business name and phone number pastered all over it. Classy bunch of people.
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Glad to hear you got some photos...hopefully you wont have to use them. my bike spends a majority of its time in rural areas where the house is 200m from the road so im a lot more carefree there... Im just extra paranoid when im at my dad's because distance from road to the spot where the bike is..well within staring distance for some weirdos.

im glad im not completely crazy taking pictures (I only took 2 one when he was pacing left and the other pacing right)
 
Picture or video on your property, it's okay. Same thing goes with security cameras. As long as you don't post them, or do anything with them.
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