A fun day at work

[revchris]

This morning was spent getting my poster printer at work to print properly. I can now print from 4"x6" up to 3'x50' posters (but the really small ones have to go through the other ink jet).

This afternoon, however, was more of an event.

I got a call from one of the grad students shortly before 4pm telling me that the guy that they thought was the peeping tom that has been popping up around the building for the last 4 years was coming across the walkway. Usually I find out he was here only after someone's confronted him and he's run off. I went wandering around the building with one of the secretaries who knows what he looks like, and we found him in the back of an unused classroom (where he can't be seen from the hallway), and we left him there while trying not to let him know he'd been spotted. Then I called UWPD, explained what was up (we've called them before, but the peeper's never still been in the building when they got here), and they said they'd send me a couple of officers. I got four uniformed UWPD officers, three of whom were at least as big as I was. They confronted him, explained to him that they had been called about him, explained to him that the magazines he was reading (Playboy) were enough to get him in trouble (I don't remember the exact words - something along the lines of "an item that would cause those around you to be uncomfortable"), and then they started questioning him about his other activities.

Apparently he confessed to enough things that they Mirandized him, cuffed him, and stuffed him into a marked squad, explaining that he'd get mug shots, finger prints, and a court date. They also told him that he should think about getting a lawyer and that he probably should also get counseling.

I hung out in the office across the hall from the classroom (mostly to keep an ear on things, and to explain to people in the building what was going on). I'm amazed, though, at the number of people who wondered why I didn't confront him myself, and who thought that calling the cops was a bit excessive. I figure that if he always flees when confronted, and he's been doing this for as long as he has, I'm calling in the professionals, who were happy that we'd carefully arranged to have him quietly waiting in a known location, as then they didn't have to run him down. If needed, they would have - outside my building was a marked squad, what might be campus' only police motorcycle, a marked SUV that might have been the K-9 unit, and an unmarked SUV; one vehicle per officer - and they came prepared to physically run him down if needed, which was why they sent three officers (the fourth heard what was happening and knew a lot about the guy, as he's been reported in other buildings around engineering). I also don't think that calling the cops was excessive. At best, they find out who he is, ask him what he's doing in the building, and then let us know that he's got a perfectly legitimate reason to be there (ie - had he had a textbook and been studying in a quiet classroom), at which point we get to look him over and see if he's who we think he is, because he might have been somebody completely unrelated to things. As is, if he's a US citizen, it'll be a route to get the help he needs. If he's a foreign student, he's probably going to get deported and asked to never come back.

Then I came home (via a couple buses because I missed the last express by 45 minutes), got teeka some food (she's had a migraine all day), and went out to do some yard work before it got too dark. I planted grass over the power trench. Hopefully it will be long enough before it freezes for it to establish. Otherwise, in the spring I'll rototill the whole area to level it better, and reseed.

Then I raked leaves. Why do fallen leaves make the yard bigger? I raked about a quarter of the yard. This got about three quarters of the fallen leaves. The rest I may mow into mulch.

In other news, Stronghold was a lot of fun. We had the best weather yet (of the four years we've been there). We also think it may have been the best show money-wise ever (generally, any show that brings in 10x the booth fee is considered a really good show; we did that each of the two days).

Comments

[misteropinion.livejournal.com]

It's good to not confront crazies. They can be armed, and you can't. Even if you could. Tho I can imagine the body armor you'd choose to wear, and some sort of rotary, steady-mounted assault shotgun thingy. :-)