When to call the police
Today while cleaning my kitchen, I saw a man run right through my back yard. I ran to the door to see if I could see where he went, but he was gone. About half an hour later, I was out pushing Matthew on the swing, because it was an absolutely gorgeous day-- then I saw the same young man (he looked to be about 19) running through my neighbor's yard!
He kept approaching other houses as if he was checking them out, walking up to open garages and just looking about. I decided that I should make sure everything was on the up and up, so I called the police. As I was talking to the dispatcher, he disappeared for a minute and then reappeared with another man. Then they both disappeared just as the police rolled up. (It took them about 4 minutes-- not bad.) I was happy to see him and explained what I had been seeing and he went off searching for them. Then another policeman came, and another, and another, plus one in an unmarked car just for good measure. I was very happy to see so many police, because I wanted to make sure these men didn't get away in case they were casing the neighborhood or breaking into anyone's house.
After a short while the policeman came back to my house and explained that the man was a meter reader and the other man was a contractor working with three other guys in a house down the road. I thanked him for coming and apologized; he assured me they were happy I called because it could have been something totally different.
But I am still perplexed: what meter man runs through yards and looks in people's open garages? My doors are staying locked.