Suspicious Vehicle Reported
Forwarded to me by Shannon, the Forest Hill Neighborhood Watch Coordinator. The incidents below took place in Woodland Heights;
Last Thursday (6/24) morning my husband saw a blue Geo Tracker with a trailer behind it driving through the alley behind our house at about 6:20 am (Riverside between 29th and 30th). He called the police, and my husband followed the Geo in his car. He saw the vehicle as it made its way though numerous alleys in the neighborhood. It had no front license plate, but the back plate was ZSA 8753.
This morning (Monday 6/28) my husband saw the same blue Geo Tracker with trailer drive through our alley again at 6:15 am. He called the police again. He did not get the plate this time.
30 minutes later, at 6:45 am I was walking my dog on W 32nd street, when I saw the blue geo tracker with trailer coming from New Kent. It turned left on W 32nd Street and drove to the corner of Stonewall and W. 32nd. The driver stopped there and parked the car in the middle of the street, blocking traffic, got out and walked up to the front porch of the house on the North Eastern corner of Stonewall and 32nd. The house has large shrubs in front of the porch and I was unable to see what he was doing. I called 911 and spoke to them while standing there and watching this guy. While I was on the phone with them, the man got back into the vehicle, he did not appear to have anything in his hands. He turned left onto Stonewall and drove away.
He was a black male wearing a navy blue polo shirt with plaid/madras type shorts, black sneakers and white socks. I would guess he was in his 20s or 30s, but he was pretty far away. I was too far away to see the plate, but I am sure it was the same vehicle my husband had just seen. I do not know if there was anyone else with him in the car.Please keep an eye out. Thanks,
Riverside Drive Resident
calling 911 when it’s not an emergency is a crime..and wastes valuable time..and money addressing your calls, yes make note of it, yes tell others in the community.. but unless a crime is commited…theres no real need for a patrol car to come out there or for you to call 911…501-5000 maybe?? not sure if non-emergency is diffrent where you are..?
good job tho.. some of these people pose as odd jobs workers..but mostly troll around looking for stuff to take..often scrap metal…the scrap metal should be fine..but the nice guys will knock and ask you about it when it’s convienent..instead of just walking off with it..
You should ALWAYS report suspicious activity to the police, if for no other reason than to alert them so that they can make a note to check out your neighborhood on a more frequent basis.
And the sight of a prowl car will often deter the crime and save the cops lotsa of paper work later.
NEVER hesitate to call the cops, that’s what they are there for.
I’d recommend the non emergency police number for something like this (804) 646-5100. Save 911 for true life/death emergencies.
The person driving the suspicious vehicle was actually following up on a metal pickup….the driver had stopped earlier in the week to **ask the homeowner** if the metal was scrap and was told to return in a few days.
It turns out that the homeowner had had a chain link fence removed and was waiting for the fencing company to have a chance to remove the scrap: they did not, so the ‘suspicious’ driver came back for it.
It’s great to have alert neighbors, and even greater when suspicious activity turns out to be harmless.
BTW, both emergency and non-emergency calls are handled by the same switchboard in Richmond.
I know it is easy to say that these incidents were not ‘true emergencies’ but nothing suspicious is until it is too late. I would much rather report something unusual and have it turn out to be nothing than know that I could have acted to prevent a crime from taking place in the neighborhood.
Having spoken with numerous police officers regarding the recent upswing in criminal activity in the neighborhood, all of them have consistently asked us to report anything that seems out of place. The more information they have the better they can do their jobs.
The police cannot be everywhere at once and having alert neighbors gives them the best chances of stopping those commiting the crimes.