'Encounter' while walking dog

[American1776]

Hello everyone. I thought I'd relate an awkward and potentially concerning situation that happened just last night in my backyard.

I live in a town home, in a nice little development/neighborhood. My backyard flows into a township owned park, pretty open, with a playground. Also behind my house is a deadend of the road on which my house resides--this deadend is in the form of a large circle of road where cars can turnaround, and it is away from the main street of the development.

Last night, around 11:30pm, my gf and I take the dog out to do her thing. Something told me to get the flashlight this time, as there are no street lamps or other lighting behind my house and in the park/turnaround area.

As we are walking the dog, we notice an SUV, through the darkness, parked with lights off, in the turnaround (just 100-200 yards from our house). I make note of this, and wait for my 'night vision' to kick in. When I look more closely, there is a dark shadow of a person standing near the SUV. Then I look even closer, and I see another dark shadow next to the SUV. This got the 'alert' bells ringing in my head, as they are standing there in the (almost) pitch dark.
Then, the one shadowy figure walks across the street to another parked vehicle. The lights inside go on in the second vehicle, and then the other person at the SUV goes over and joins his 'pal'. This goes on for about 10 mins. Then the two walk back over to the SUV, and stand around there for another 5 mins or so. All of this is going on in the dark, no headlights are switched on, and the two are either not talking, or are whispering, because I cannot hear any voices.
Through this 'event', I'm thinking a few things. 1) They know that we are there, walking the dog. 2) I don't want to go back to the house right now, with them watching (I'm not sure I want them to know what house we go back to). 3) This is a potentially bad situation, since having to run back to the house could be very awkward with our dog, my gf (who was wearing flip-flops), and in the dark.
With all these thoughts, I make sure to check the area of the park behind us, just to make sure the playground area was 'clear' of any more shadowy figures, and that the rest of the park didn't have any lurkers.
Eventually, after about 15 mins or so, the two cars leave very suddenly and quickly. Shortly after that, our dog did her business, and we went inside.
I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on how they would 'handle' this strange event? My options varied from doing what I did (watch and be ready), go up to one of the people and ask in a friendly tone if they 'needed any help'. Or go back to the house as soon as we saw them.
The whole time, I had my hands inside my pocket casually (where my Sig P232 was holstered), but of course, this was just a precaution. If something bad happened, I'd be more likely to make a dash back to the house before engaging with unknown persons in the dark. But, my gf is a slower runner than I am (she can run longer distances, though), and she had our dog (which may have slowed us down).
Any thoughts on what might have been going on with these two persons, and the best way to handle it? Mostly I was upset that these shady events were going down near my backyard, right near my house which is in a really nice development in suberbia.
This just goes to show, that wierd things could and do happen in even the nicest areas.

[chivvalry]

Drug deal. Your choices were: 1) call the cops and report the activity while using your cell phone to record and try to grab license plates, 2) walk away and ignore it, 3) confront them by shining the flashlight on them and walking up smiling asking if you can help them out. "Hi folks! How you doing tonight? You guys need a wrecker or something?"

Given your situation with GF there I would have probably had her do the first part of #2 followed by the first part of #1 while I did the second part of #1 and #3.

[mollymayhem82]

You should have gone about your business. If they didn't present a threat to you, then you had nothing to worry about.

[Justin///M]

I agree with Molly and the way you handled it. They presented no threat and just to play devils advocate, maybe thy thought you were the creepy one lurking in the dark, so thy bugged out. Silly, I know..., point is, you were right to raise your awareness but unless there was a threat or you were a witness to illegal activity, just go about your business with you senses on full alert. Just my opinion.

Justin

[ddefazio]

It is good to run through the scenarios as you are in the midst. Too many people walk ignorant to what is happening around them. Curious what kind of dog you have. Just wondering how the dog could have played into the situation.

[chivvalry]

You should have gone about your business. If they didn't present a threat to you, then you had nothing to worry about.

They were a threat... conducting illegal business in the dark of night in MY neighborhood is going to get a response from me. If you don't roust them out then they will decide this is a safe place to "conduct business" and return again and again...

If they were there on legitimate business than the approach I described will clear that up pretty quickly.

[wishIhada5.0]

I commend you on your situational awareness and the thought process that you went through. I would have had the same response and I would have notified the police of the activites that took place. It sounds like a steroetypical drug deal .....

[ViperGTS19801]

When there's random people whom you don't recognize in your neighborhood where you keep your loved ones and neighbors, and you don't recognize them, and you feel like they may be partaking in shady or illegal activity, it's my opinion that you have every right to put your flashlight on them and ask them if they need any help. I feel like it'd be irresponsible to ignore all the red flags you're seeing and not check them out - call it a "mere encounter," if you will - to see if there's anything taking place that you might need to be concerned about. You don't have to give them a hard time, or ask them to leave, or even say anything other than, "hey there, how you guys doing tonight? Can I help you with anything?" It gives you an opportunity to either validate or confirm your suspicions without getting up in their business based on their initial reaction.

It's kind of like the difference between a cop coming up to an OCer and saying, "Hey, I see your gun there...we got a few calls from other people about you. Everything okay?", or the same cop just proning you out, temporarily stealing your gun and wallet, and making sure the "situation is under control." It gives you a chance to investigate what is obviously suspicious activity, even if only to put your own fears to bed.

[freesoul]

have y'all watched that DHS video that encourages folks to report 'suspicious' behavior?

Assuming this doesn't become a regular occurrence I would leave it alone, if its not a threat then its good to be aware but thats where I would draw the line. Perhaps communicate your concern to your town council and ask them to install a light back there- that should take care of future shady business occurring there.

[freesoul]

When there's random people whom you don't recognize in your neighborhood where you keep your loved ones and neighbors, and you don't recognize them, and you feel like they may be partaking in shady or illegal activity, it's my opinion that you have every right to put your flashlight on them and ask them if they need any help. I feel like it'd be irresponsible to ignore all the red flags you're seeing and not check them out - call it a "mere encounter," if you will - to see if there's anything taking place that you might need to be concerned about. You don't have to give them a hard time, or ask them to leave, or even say anything other than, "hey there, how you guys doing tonight? Can I help you with anything?" It gives you an opportunity to either validate or confirm your suspicions without getting up in their business based on their initial reaction.

It's kind of like the difference between a cop coming up to an OCer and saying, "Hey, I see your gun there...we got a few calls from other people about you. Everything okay?", or the same cop just proning you out, temporarily stealing your gun and wallet, and making sure the "situation is under control." It gives you a chance to investigate what is obviously suspicious activity, even if only to put your own fears to bed.

its also your chance to get shot. Isn't that what the police sign up for?