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Today in my neighborhood I saw a fairly non-descript white utility/commercial type van with a "Wake County" sticker on the front doors stop in front of my neighbors house. The only interesting thing about this van was the side of it had a large heavily tinted window with a small removable piece. I noticed some movement behind the tinted window, then notice a fairly professional looking camera lense sticking out of the little removable piece in the tinted window.
My initial thought was it was the county taking updated pictures for the property tax records as the neighborhood's photos are from 9+ years ago when the houses were first built. But oddly it stopped near the next couple of houses then sped off without stopping in front of every single house on the street.
I didn't have the chance to run out and ask them what they were doing or see what the small print on the Wake County sticker said, if anything. Nor did I notice if the van had cameras sticking out both sides. If so, then they could have taken photos of my entire neighborhood driving in one direction since it's a cul-de-sac.
If nobody has definitive knowledge of what this van is doing I'll probably phone the county next week to inquire as I've never seen such a vehicle before anywhere ever. It was certainly odd. Not covertly photographing, but still somewhat sneaky.
hmm strange. Perhaps a neighbor is doing something illegal? could just be the tax office taking photos, but they usually don't have a van with tinted windows and a port hole. Sounds more like a police van to me. What area do you live in?
Cowboy would know better, but it sounds like a a drug survellience(sp?) team to me. I would call 911 and keep asking questions until I got an answer. I am pro-pro-pro police, but would want to be sure this was legit. Without our badass police officers, the lawless scumbag punks would take over. Cops are the reason we can all sleep safely at night. Moderator cut: way off topic Most citizens would soil themselves if they had to stop a crappy van at 3 am.
Last edited by autumngal; 09-06-2008 at 12:22 PM..
Reason: no flame wars please
I can assure you it wasn't a drug stake out as this particular house is currently vacant and empty and under rehab. It didn't look a all like a police vehicle but was a Wake County worker looking vehicle. Like the pickup trucks I've seen before, but a utility van instead. And they weren't particularly sneaky about it. It's a clearly marked county vehicle taking the photos and they stopped the van right in front of the house in broad daylight. Not some surveillance vehicle masked as a laundry truck with a guy yelling "Shoot the moon! Shoot! The! Moooon!" out the secret zipper peep hole.
I can assure you it wasn't a drug stake out as this particular house is currently vacant and empty and under rehab.
Do you think it has anything to do with the rehab stuff? Lack of permitting or possibly checking on permitting. Maybe they forgot to take a photo of the front while checking permitting and quickly came back to complete their work. ???? This is a WAG.
Moderator cut: quote you are referring to has been removed
Last edited by autumngal; 09-06-2008 at 12:24 PM..
I just saw the above vehicle on Monday crusing around a N Raleigh neighborhood. It is definitely not a google van. I pulled a u-turn and briefly followed the van. The driver appeared to notice that I was following and made a hard right turn as I continued on.
I would definitely describe the activity as suspicious. Has anyone submitted an inquiry to the county on this, yet?
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