Should I report to 101, stranger and my baby

[Bramblecrumble22]

I feel a bit shaken after an interaction. After the school run, I was putting my baby in the car seat and someone tapped my shoulder. I turned with baby in my arms and she said 'baby' and touched him, and but her hand near his armipit. She was stood very close and it felt like when you pass a baby over. I said 'what are you doing.' quite aggressively and she said 'no, no, I like babies' and squeezed his cheek then walked off quickly. I mean she could be lonely and love babies and want to innocently interact with them. She didn't speak much English either. But I just felt really uncomfortable. She wasn't as old as the ladies that often coo over him in the shops, so maybe that why i felt threatened. So aibu she just wanted to see and smile at a baby, very innocent and a cultural misunderstanding, or ainbu report to police in case it builds up a bigger picture and she will go on to kidnap.

Why on earth would you report it? She is just a bit weird. She didn’t commit any crime. What are the police meant to do with that information? Some random woman came up and interacted with you in the streets. Where would they file away that bit of info? Under non events carried out by nameless people who did nothing wrong?

Hmm. On the "building a bigger picture" but YANBU, because there's usually plenty of warning signs that, if you add them up, would result in a pretty accurate picture of potential crime. OTOH, if they were all reported the police would do nothing else, it's a task for AI.

But I doubt it was sinister. There are many people out there, mostly women, who are just obsessed by babies. There's a woman who had a late miscarriage in my gym who comes after baby swim classes. She coos over all.the babies, tells her sad story over and over and shows you unasked for pictures of her niblings.

I do let her hold my son and have him pull someone else's hair for once while I change. In a less contained environment I might think it more risky, but as it is I just feel sorry for her.

To see if she would hand her baby over for what? The woman to then walk off with the child?

Is that a common occurrence where you live, are trainee baby snatchers sent out on the streets to see how many they can snaffle in a day?

When my first baby was small we were in the park and she was on a blanket and 2 men came over who didn’t speak English and tried to take photos of her, I felt really uncomfortable about it so I reported it to 101, not as in a crime had been committed but just in case they did go on to do something then the police would have the information to build up a picture of their behaviour, the man on 101 said I’d done the right thing.

In response to your questions.

Yes it could be a cultural thing. My SE Asian extended family (by marriage) are much more touchy feely and hands on with kids than the British ones. They make for fab grandparents ! When we were travelling around SE Asia my blonde white DC were quite popular with the locals, touching their hair for example. It was considered good luck.

If you knew it was a cultural thing then would you feel as uncomfortable with the interaction? If not, no need to report. If despite that it felt really beyond a normal interaction then by all means report. Don't expect much to come out of it though

No, because pickpocketing, using distraction , is a common crime. Kidnapping babies isn’t.

It is called statistics.