Found an unattended rucksack.

[Moofreemum1]

Found a plain black unattended rucksack in a children park a min ago. I was with my toddler and didn't want to touch it. Didn't know what was in it e.g. drugs or now adays who knows what's in there. So I called the non emergency number and they said they don't have resources to go and check it.
Was I being unreasonable calling them? She said may be you could go back and check? Made me feel stupid for ringing. It prob is the case someone left it there but you can never be too careful now adays. So was ibu?

I would report it in a garrison town, because that is an obvious target. And that is why they responded in that case.

And even if the police had responded, do you seriously think they call out the bomb disposal unit for every lost or abandoned bag found? In most cases the police would come out, do a visual risk assessment, and then open the bag and see what is inside. And I know from second hand experience that often those police receive no more training than you or I in undertaking that risk assessment.
I have lost or left handbags/bags in lots of places. I have returned to the place and got them, except once when it had been stolen. No one called a bomb disposal unit out. I have also seen abandoned bags abandoned after they have been stolen and emptied. Always reported and handed them in to police. Bomb disposal unit was never involved.

Bags are lost or left every day, most would never be dealt with as if they were a bomb.
The question would always be, is there anything to make anyone think it could be a bomb - wires sticking out, ticking noise? Is it somewhere that would be a terrorist target? If the answer to both is no, then it is extremely unlikely to be a bomb. Sure you can say why take the chance? Then leave it alone and go on with your day.
If I am honest my fear would be that there would be items of a crime left in it e.g. bloody knife, clothing, etc. In reality when ever I have looked in bags like this, and I have a few times, it has always been things like squashed sandwiches and pencil cases in it.

But you have to be sensible and take a risk based approach.

I do. If I see an unattended bag, I report it. HTH.

Ffs it's a bag in a play park not a bomb at Euston. So dramatic.Look inside it - likely there are some blankets and a bottle and a mum has left it in a sleepy fog.

Drug dealers don't leave their bags full of drugs in the park, they're very conscious that that's their money maker - would you just leave thousands of pounds in a bag?

thehappyegg Thats fine, go ahead. But depending where the bag is, don't expect the police always to respond.

Drug dealers don't leave their bags full of drugs in the park

Sorry but yes they do.

Not out in open view they don't.
And if you do know any park where this regularly happens, please pm me the location.

Get bags left on my train all the time.

A passenger will come tell me. I have to wander back and have a look. Or I'll see them when I'm walking through my empty train at the end of my shift.

Once when I opened one it had a black gown and one of those wigs judges and barristers wear inside. Alongside lots of case notes!

So I would have definitely opened it and looked inside.

Drug runners can be just as forgetful as the next person! 😁

@thehappyegg really? Because the dealers I know wouldn't dare - it'd be robbed within 15 minutes and they'd lose their lot and would probs owe someone in the chain. This isn't Good Girls

that someone thinks drug dealers can't be just as forgetful as anyone because their stash 'matters too much to lose'. Who knew!

Granted drugs are normally hidden if left in a playground. However maybe they were left by accident?

Didn’t millions of £££s of drugs get washed up in rucksacks on the Norfolk coast.

the dealers I know wouldn't dare The dealers I know of would never be involved in transporting drugs, that’s a job for the younger kids.

Those rucksacks were probably in a drowned boat. You are not likely to contact the coastguard if you are drug smuggling.

I'm from N Ireland so there is no way I'd go poking about in an abandoned bag, same as I wouldn't walk anywhere near an obviously abandoned car. And actually I hate walking past parked cars full stop.

Part of me wants to say that no one would bother bombing a playground, not because their conscience wouldn't allow it, but because it wouldn't kill enough people. But then again, a primary school near me had a little bomb planted at the edge of the playground, so who knows?

Those rucksacks were probably in a drowned boat. They think the drugs were tied to buoys & were to be collected at a later date however the weather had other ideas, accidents happen. I bet the walkers who found the drugs were 99% sure the rucksacks wouldn’t contain drugs though.

Am I the only person who would have opened it to see if there was any identifying info inside, then tried to get in touch with the owner?

You did the right thing OP, can't believe they told you to check the bag yourself!

I remember a few months after I'd moved from Belfast to England seeing an abandoned bag in the street, I said we should contact police and my friends just laughed, I was shocked at how blasé they were about it! I've been back in NI for a good few years now and there's no way I'd go near an abandoned bag. It's just not worth the risk. Always suspicious of cars that are parked randomly or look abandoned too like a PP said.

I found an unattended suitcase near a trolly park at a local (very large) Supermarket recently. I told a member of staff as I didn't want to touch it even though it was probably nothing!

You did the right thing, op. I would tell your MP that apparently the police don't have the resources to check out suspicious packages in public areas where there are lots of children.
I'm old. This sort of thing has horrible reminiscences for me too.

Is anyone else tempted to go to wherever this is and look in the damn bag now, to put us all out of our misery?

Bit shocked by some of these ‘you were overreacting’ replies tbh. Living in London it’s drummed into (most of) us to report unattended bags, especially in places like train stations etc I wouldn’t have touched it and would have reported it too. Could be innocent but how would you feel if it turned out to be malicious in a park full of children for example? If someone owns it I’m sure they will come back for it

@Moofreemum1 its Salisbury and not Sailsbury. As you were ;)

Oh, I am in Salisbury & I wouldn't open a backpack if it was left. The fake Novichock poison perfume was left in a park, very close to the playpark. I would phone the non emergency police number though.

I absolutely wouldn't touch it! You did the responsible thing. It could have been anything.

I'm also shocked by how many people seem to think OP is overreacting. In my small town in the UK the town centre was closed off and a bomb squad called for an unattended rucksack in the small, pretty much always empty McDonalds. I don't think she overreacted at all!