Jeff Jonas: Damsels in Distress: Stalking Stalkers through London Alleys

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My girlfriend, two youngest kids and I were walking from our London summer flat to dinner a couple nights ago. While in route, I overheard a lady on her cell phone saying something to the effect of “this creep has been stalking me for over a month and NOW I am following him.” As it turns out, she was talking to the police, but I was unaware of that.

After a few moments to ponder what I had heard, I told my family that I thought she was in distress and possibly needed some assistance. They agreed. So I inserted myself into the situation which resulted in a few confrontational words with the 6 foot something dude, then while the distressed damsel and I talked, we watched the stalker dude casually walked off and disappear into a side street.

In short, I decide to tail the stalker. Almost lost him. But tracked him unnoticed through a left turn, then right, left, right, left, right and right again. Luckily, along the way I flagged down a policeman that was willing to involve himself ... despite being unaware of the concurrent phone conversation the distressed damsel was still having with the police department a few blocks away.

So … as the accused stalker stuck his key in the door of his flat and looked over his shoulder, he realized I was standing right there with a policeman. A precious, unexpected, moment …

The damsel was able to now make a police report with an identified subject … and my family and I had something new to talk about over dinner!

I did listen into her call. And I did not get permission. And although she may have been offended for a moment that I had overheard (and acted upon) her conversation … she certainly was very thankful!

Could I have handled this better? Was there a better way to avoid consumer surprise? They had very different stories - what if he was an innocent Joe and I actually helped a whacked lady find a nice guys home? He did tell the policeman that he would have done the same thing had he been in my shoes.

Risk Mitigation Note: Had I not stumbled into a policeman, who knows how the story would have ended. And although I am ill prepared for any hand-to-hand combat … I did have a secret weapon with me. But don’t ask as I’d like to protect my sources and methods!