I was at a local Japanese Temple earlier today with my son and a friend and her daughter. After paying respects to the graves of deceased relatives, we headed out to fish pond to have lunch and let the children feed the fish and birds.
The place doubles as a tourist attraction, so it's not unusual to see a bunch of tourists clicking photos of the fish and various scenary. While we were eating lunch, I noticed what appeared to be a tourist acting rather suspicious. He would get very close to the young children (appearing 8 years and below) and would be taking their photos. I don't know where the other parents were, but as a general practice, I don't allow strangers within 5 feet or so of my child unless I'm right along side of him. After we were done eating the children asked if they could go feed the fish and the birds. There's a nice carp pond where there are carp and other fresh water fish. There's a couple of geese as well as a wide assortment of wild birds that enjoy eating the dry fish food. The children were at the edge of the pond, approx. 10 feet away. My friend and I were seated at the table where we had lunch. I noticed the suspicious character getting closer and closer to the children. He looked at the little girl and had a very disturbing look on his face. He walked towards a bamboo grove and clicked a couple of photos. Apparently he didn't notice that I was watching him and pretty much every move he was making. When he began clicking away photos of the children, I stood up between him and the children and asked "what are you doinig?" He said "I thought it was such a beautiful picture with the children and the water fountain in the background". He then goes off and says "I'll delete the photo if you're offended.", then insisted I look at the photo. The photo he showed me was of the children hand feeding the birds. I then told him, "I have no problem with that photo, however I did hear your camera shutter click several times." At that point, he deleted the whole set of photos! He looked at me and said "There, now they are all gone, so you can't arrest me." I told him "What are you talking about?" He said "You're not a cop?" I then responded "Were you hoping I was one?" He then said "Oh s**t.", then stormed off. I went back and sat at the table where my friend asked if she should call 911. I told her nah, the guy was leaving and there was really no proof he did anything wrong at this point. The guy went to meet a woman and a shady looking guy. Watching them as they left, I was able to read lips of some of the conversation. Looked like shady guy #2 said "We better get out of here", then they left.
Kind of scary the number of creepy perverts out there. After the incident a woman approached me and told me that he thought she saw the guy taking photos of her daughter bending over a few minutes earlier. I informed her that I saw the man delete the camera memory, though I'm not 100% sure that everything was deleted since technology can be rather tricky at times. Another guy talked to us on the way out identifying himself as an off duty police officer, and said that he was impressed with the way I handled the situation. He noticed the guy as well and though he didn't witness the guy doing anything illegal, that his activities did appear rather shady. I told the officer that I was glad that creepy guy didnt't take a swing at me or anything, as things would have gotten interesting if he did.
I'm glad that the creep didn't go home with any photos of our little ones to do who knows what with them.
Great lesson for keeping your eyes and ears open. Be aware of those around you and what they may be doing. Though not everyone is up to no good, it's that one creep that is that freaks me out.
gf
The place doubles as a tourist attraction, so it's not unusual to see a bunch of tourists clicking photos of the fish and various scenary. While we were eating lunch, I noticed what appeared to be a tourist acting rather suspicious. He would get very close to the young children (appearing 8 years and below) and would be taking their photos. I don't know where the other parents were, but as a general practice, I don't allow strangers within 5 feet or so of my child unless I'm right along side of him. After we were done eating the children asked if they could go feed the fish and the birds. There's a nice carp pond where there are carp and other fresh water fish. There's a couple of geese as well as a wide assortment of wild birds that enjoy eating the dry fish food. The children were at the edge of the pond, approx. 10 feet away. My friend and I were seated at the table where we had lunch. I noticed the suspicious character getting closer and closer to the children. He looked at the little girl and had a very disturbing look on his face. He walked towards a bamboo grove and clicked a couple of photos. Apparently he didn't notice that I was watching him and pretty much every move he was making. When he began clicking away photos of the children, I stood up between him and the children and asked "what are you doinig?" He said "I thought it was such a beautiful picture with the children and the water fountain in the background". He then goes off and says "I'll delete the photo if you're offended.", then insisted I look at the photo. The photo he showed me was of the children hand feeding the birds. I then told him, "I have no problem with that photo, however I did hear your camera shutter click several times." At that point, he deleted the whole set of photos! He looked at me and said "There, now they are all gone, so you can't arrest me." I told him "What are you talking about?" He said "You're not a cop?" I then responded "Were you hoping I was one?" He then said "Oh s**t.", then stormed off. I went back and sat at the table where my friend asked if she should call 911. I told her nah, the guy was leaving and there was really no proof he did anything wrong at this point. The guy went to meet a woman and a shady looking guy. Watching them as they left, I was able to read lips of some of the conversation. Looked like shady guy #2 said "We better get out of here", then they left.
Kind of scary the number of creepy perverts out there. After the incident a woman approached me and told me that he thought she saw the guy taking photos of her daughter bending over a few minutes earlier. I informed her that I saw the man delete the camera memory, though I'm not 100% sure that everything was deleted since technology can be rather tricky at times. Another guy talked to us on the way out identifying himself as an off duty police officer, and said that he was impressed with the way I handled the situation. He noticed the guy as well and though he didn't witness the guy doing anything illegal, that his activities did appear rather shady. I told the officer that I was glad that creepy guy didnt't take a swing at me or anything, as things would have gotten interesting if he did.
I'm glad that the creep didn't go home with any photos of our little ones to do who knows what with them.
Great lesson for keeping your eyes and ears open. Be aware of those around you and what they may be doing. Though not everyone is up to no good, it's that one creep that is that freaks me out.gf
