quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Is this a big thing in America, carrying ID?

We don't have TV cameras at every road intersection.

The key point here is that you had someone who didn't live in the neighborhood, who was wandering around checking out houses. That *ought* to get the attention of a resident who is worried about whether somebody was casing the neighborhood for potential robbery opportunities.

"How many times must a man turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn't see?"

There's bad people out there.

"There's a battle outside, And it is ragin'. It'll soon shake your windows, And rattle your walls, For the times they are a-changin'."

I've had people break into my house; steal VCRs, every one of my remotes (just in case), and a box of non-sports trading cards; and cook lasagna in my microwave oven.

You shouldn't confront somebody you don't know, the police are (or should be) trained. The "pro" bad guys probably wouldn't be notices, but the amateur bad guys are the ones who might react unpredictably and/or violently. It sounds like the Dylan incident was handled sensitively. And these days, they need to check out anybody who's reported as "apparently doesn't belong" so that they can't be accused of racial or other profiling.

"You see me on the street, You always act surprised."

"I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road, babe. Where I'm bound, I can't tell."

"I have no one to meet, And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming. ... I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to."

"No reason to get excited, the thief, he kindly spoke."

"Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' long the street."

"Im on the pavement, Thinking about the government. ... You don't need a weather man To know which way the wind blows."

It seems from the replies that in America it is a good idea to carry some sort of ID when you leave your house.

As was stated the only time a cop in the UK would ask you for ID is if he was trying to do you for some traffic violation. Other than this you would never be approached.

I found it intresting that when the person rang the police they quickly arrived to sort out the problem. In the UK they would have come round sometime during the next few days just to check with you that the man had gone away.

Thank you all for trying to explain to me the way things work over there.

I never, ever leave the house without my purse and in my purse at all times is my id. The rare occasion when I've lost it (left it at the grocery store one time) I have completely panicked because it's just not something I would ordinarily do. And I would NEVER drive without it (I asked Robert to stop by the store on the way home and retrieve it for me).

And yes, the police do tend to answer prowler complaints fairly quickly. I called the police once to report someone having gone through my garbage (some mail from the can had been opened and other stuff messed with so we knew it wasn't an animal) and they came out to take a report within an hour. We have good police here

They also come each and every time I try to self-clean the oven - but that's another story!

It's actually us in the UK that are paranoid and don't want to carry ID (all sorts of reasons - fear of ID theft, human Rights etc..) Eveybody got very agitated when ID cards were mentioned. A lot of Europe carry ID cards and I always have my driving license with me. The chances of The Police coming to investigate an incident - NIL

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
It's actually us in the UK that are paranoid and don't want to carry ID (all sorts of reasons - fear of ID theft, human Rights etc..) Eveybody got very agitated when ID cards were mentioned.

I think it's a bit more accurate to say that most people were perfectly happy at the thought of carrying an ID card. What got everyone agitated was when the Government decided it would be a great idea to make them into something more than just a simple way of proving your identity by throwing in biometrics, creating a huge database of the information that would be accessible by the Police, Government Departments and Agencies, Security Agencies and Uncle Tom Cobbly and All, along with charging a huge amount of money for them and implying that carrying them would be made compulsory for everyone with large fines for not carrying them and not providing regular updates to the system.

Had they just stuck with what everyone was expecting, i.e. a simple card with your photo, name, address, date of birth and maybe a National Insurance number then we'd probably all be carrying them by now without any worries.

Remember, just because you're paranoid...doesn't mean they aren't out to get you

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin F:
Remember, just because you're paranoid...doesn't mean they aren't out to get you

We are paranoid and they are out to get us