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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To call the police about what I saw

19 replies

ForMashGetSmash · 26/10/2010 09:37

Yesterday I took the DCs to our local playground. It's a small usually busy one...on one side is the main road, another is the local school, at the back is a soccer field and on the other side is a low wire fence with about 5 or 6 feet deep of prickly hedges and undergrowth with a few small trees behind it...this is to seperate the playground from the car park for a group of apartments...I assume so that kids dont climb the fence and get knocked over in the apartment car park.

My DC 1 is a hedge dweller like me...she is always looking for interesting berries etc...and while she was on the swings with DC 2 I had a look in the hedge to see if there were any late blackberries and I noticed...right in the middle of this impassable undergrowth and hedge....a mans coat (quite clean) hanging up like a barrier, on the floor behind it were flattened cardboard boxes. My first thought was that a homeless person had been sleeping in there...and that it was odd to sleep practically IN a playground.

But last night it occured to me that no homeless person would sleep on the ground in the middle of a prickly bush in this weather!

The hedge is very hard to get into...I could not see an entrance...and this "den" would not provide shelter from rain or wind...this is a suburban area...no homeless people sleeping rough...they are all in the city where the shelters and suport is...and in my experience they usually sleep in stairwells and doorways where there is a wall and a bit of an overhang for shelter....could somene be hiding in there and watching the kids?

It's RIGHT near the climbing frame...a stones throw...but nobody woud notice it unless like me you practically shove your head in the hedge.

I had an odd feeling abut it when I saw it but last night when I heard the wind howling, and thought about the poor homeless people my stomach flipped as I realised nobody would sleep in a hedge in the open air! So...do I ask the police to check it out or am I being paranoid?

OP posts:

Original poster

ForMashGetSmash · 26/10/2010 09:39

I suppose it would make an ideal place to take photographs.... the more I write, the more I think I should call the police!

OP posts:

MumBarTheDoorZombiesAreComing · 26/10/2010 09:46

Could be innocent, may not be. I would think the community officers would be happy to have a look even if its just to put your mind a rest.

mamadiva · 26/10/2010 09:54

Does sound a bit odd. Was there anyone about that you noticed?

Agree with Mumbar, do you have local officers? I would imagine they'd be happy to look but the police would probably just leave it until 'they have time'.

WannabeNigella · 26/10/2010 09:54

Call them. Definitely worth it being checked out.

CoronaAndLime · 26/10/2010 09:56

Sounds like my Ds 'den' tbh.

No harm in getting it checked out though.

Original poster

ForMashGetSmash · 26/10/2010 10:06

I never thought of kids doing it CaronaAndLime....I suppose its because it was a mans coat...but that means nothing does it...kids could get hole of an old coat.

Mamavida....no...but there is a house opposite...where a man sits on the step all day....I have often felt a bit about his need to sit on the step all day looking into a kids playground...but my instinct is that he is innocently enyoying the fresh air...maybe he is disabled because he is too young t be retired....perhaps lonely and likes to see passers by etc. I HATE being suspicious...and I'm not usually...

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BuntyPenfold · 26/10/2010 10:07

I know our local officers are very good and would check it out for you.
It sounds like a bird hide or similar, and that is for taking photographs from.
Oh dear.
Yes, do report it, and please report back - I would be interested.

greenbananas · 26/10/2010 10:08

Could be a den - but there's no harm in telling the local PCSOs. They might perhaps have a squint in there every time they are passing.

Some kids in my area built dens like that in bushes and then complained that their dens had been 'taken over by druggies'.

TheProvincialLady · 26/10/2010 10:08

There is a den like that in my church's garden. It looks very uncomfortable but there is a homeless man who sleeps there and he told the vicar he likes it because it is quiet and away from the city centre.

So it might be perfectly innocent, but if you are concerned then the police will probably check it out.

MaudOHara · 26/10/2010 10:14

I would mention it to PCSO so they can check it out if they are concerned.

It could be totally innocent but if it isn't then them keeping an eye would stop someone for using it for any illicit purpose

Original poster

ForMashGetSmash · 26/10/2010 10:14

Thanks everyone....I will ring them and tell you what they say.

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Original poster

ForMashGetSmash · 26/10/2010 11:33

called and they said I was right to be concerned...they said often drug addicts will create little "dens" in order to shoot up or whatever....but that they would not expect to find such a place in a playground...they are sending an officer to look and they will be keeping an eye on it.

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taintedpaint · 26/10/2010 12:40

Yeah it sounds a bit odd....and I think you were right to call.

lazarusb · 26/10/2010 13:09

You did the right thing. If it's innocent, fair enough, if not you have probably done several people a very big favour. Better than to wait until something happens then regret not making that call.

kickassangel · 26/10/2010 13:27

or it could be a young homeless person/runaway, who is scared of city centres, in which case you've possibly helped.

even if it's just a kids' den, it doesn't matter if the police keep an eye on it, in case other people start taking over (like drug takers)

Original poster

ForMashGetSmash · 26/10/2010 15:25

I hope nobody is sleeping in it...there is NO protection and one layer of cardboard won't keep the frost away...it was minus 6 here the other night!

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LynLiesNomoreZombieFest · 26/10/2010 15:49

It is always better to err on the side of caution.

I was driving home past the park on afternoon when I saw a man watching two little girls in the park.

The park is within a fenced off area, and he was walking around it peering through and watching them.

I turned off parked and watched him. He carried on hiding in a bush.

I got out of the car and asked him what he thought he was doing and told him I was phoning the police.

It turned out he was the little girls GD (I confirmed this with them). He was playing hide and seek.

He was mortified to think I thought he was a pervert. I felt like an idiot, but better safe than sorry.

lazarusb · 26/10/2010 17:21

Lyn- but brave of you to ask! I'm sure he must have been comforted to know that at least you cared about his grandchildren [hgrin]

Original poster

ForMashGetSmash · 26/10/2010 22:21

OMG! Lyn! HOw emabarrasing and the poor man! BUT you did he right thing....I feel happy knowing there are careful people u there prepared to take time out to check things out.

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