Question[logged in on public terminal, so keeping it short]
I'm 32, and been with my partner for 7 years now.
Recently, some of my lingerie has been going missing from my garden and I don't know why. Other neighbours also found the same thing.
In order to deal with this I set up a hidden CCTV camera to catch the suspect - and was surprised at who it was.
It turned out to be the local war hero [he was featured in our local paper recently, had returned from Afghanistan with flying colours and an honour] who had returned from Afghanistan - and he was seen trying on my camisole top and knickers on camera, and then sitting in a bush masturbating in his undies.
I went to the police about it, showed them the footage, but they insisted they would take no action, as it was a local war hero soldier that did it.
My partner is upset but not furious with the man; he says he thinks the man needs treatment, not punishment, though, which I found surprising.
We don't even know the man personally, but recognized his face from the local paper.
How should we cope with this?
I still have nightmares about this and feel unsafe hanging my underwear out.
What should I do?
AnswerHi Carla~
I would be just as upset and disturbed by the local police refusing to do anything b/c he's a "war hero" big deal! He's obviously a pervert and perverts start out doing sick and twisted things like this, with their fetishes, and they could progress into bigger and more violating crimes (such as rape, etc). That's a real problem. If I were in your situation and the police weren't going to do anything, I would stop hanging my clothes out, and make sure to take all the necessary precautions that I could (like keeping windows and doors locked when I was home, and the shades/curtains drawn) so that he wouldn't be peeping in my windows, b/c you never know what else he's capable of doing, especially when he's stealing clothes, trying them on and masturbating in the bushes. That's just sick and definitely not normal for a person to do. And on top of that the police are letting him get away with it. Pure craziness going on in your neighborhood. Maybe you can band together with your neighbors and do a local neighborhood watch, and if the cops get enough complaints about it, they'll finally do something about it.
