Expert: Philip Sweeting - 9/21/2005

Question
Yesterday (tuesday)I was walking on this busy street which is next to the street that i live on. This guy was in his car, and he stopped me...He said he was 19 (he looked older)...he asked me questions, like my age (i'm 15 years old), my name, and then he told me he was from out of town (los angeles) visiting. He asked me if theres any good places around here to hang out...and then he asked me to get in the car with him and go "chill with him"....i told him i had to go, but he kept being persistent. I told him i would call him but he said he couldn't give me his cell phone number because its out of area (L.A.) so it wouldn't work (probably afraid of being tracked). Anyways...when i got him, he called me at the time i said he could when i'd pick the phone up (8 pm). I told him i'd meet him in a public place, like downtown. But he kept saying that he wants to rent a hot tub out(privately) and meet me there. I told him no, even though he kept being persistent about it. Also he said that i sounded nervous, and i said yes because for all i know you could try to kill me or rape me....and he asked if i wanted to get raped or something. Anyway, he is going to call back thursday at a specific time and we are going to meet downtown. I told my aunt and my dad about this, and their not helping - they said the police won't do anything, but my dad offered to beat the guy up ( a lot of help that would do).
But the thing is when i meet him, i want to find out information about him and possibly get his license plate number. I know that this guy is a rapist, so i have to do something about this. But i need to know, will the police help me or not?
Thanks. Xena2LaraCroft@aol.com

Answer
Call the police!The police would be very interested in helping you. Technically, this person may not have committed a crime yet but I'm sure the police will want to talk to him. You should call the police and report it to them and they in turn will instruct you on what to do.

Do Not meet with this person or talk to him again unless told to do so by the police. The police should take a report from you and based on what you tell them, they will try and make contact with this person with your help. They may have you set up a meeting with this person and the police should be there for the meeting.

When you do call the police, the person you will be talking to will be a civilian/non police. If they try and tell you there is nothing they can do, which they should not, ask to talk to a supervisor and demand to have then take a police report.

Good Luck.