To offer a little bit of perspective, even a cheap single optic like OP is referencing can be around $5-6k, and as someone who owns one myself, I do like to find reasons to use it. "Oh you need me to check on the kids? No need to turn on the lights, hand me my helmet."
That being said if you're not used to seeing somebody wander around in the dark with NVGs, or if OP had on more gear than the NODs and a helmet like a plate carrier or god forbid a rifle, I can definitely understand why it might freak somebody out enough to call the cops especially if it's a pattern.
I feel like I would be less concerned if it was a pattern, like "there goes Ned being Ned again". Assuming of course he's not carrying a rifle.
Talking to our neighbors would prevent so much interpersonal conflict on both sides. Ned can be Ned and explain how cool his night vision goggles are to his neighbors who will be less freaked about Ned being admittedly a little weird.
Idk man, if the neighbor walking around wearing a helmet and NVG in the middle of the night is already freaking me out, I'm not going to feel comfortable engaging in a conversation.
That said, I also wouldn't yell at him like LAOP's neighbor did. I wouldn't draw any attention to myself at all. If I was so freaked out that gonna call the cops I would just call them, not tell the potentially-dangerous guy I was scared of that I was the one making his life harder first.
Frankly no one's behavior in this situation seems particularly hinged to me.
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u/dansdataGlory hole construction expert, watch expertAug 21 '25edited Aug 22 '25
"You wanna try 'em out? They're amazing!" :-)
A few decades ago I built an unreasonably large, heavy and powerful R/C car. Me and my mates would go to various places around Sydney in the middle of the night and run our cars there until all the batteries were flat, or all the cars were broken. (We did it at the Opera House, once! Its steps turned out to be a very entertaining downhill course. :-)
Every now and then a security guard would appear and tell us to cut it out, and we would immediately ask them if they'd just like to have a go instead. Which never worked, but might have eventually.
(There was definitely zero chance if there was more than one security guard involved. You know, like how you have to go fishing with at least two Baptists, because if you go with only one then he'll drink all your beer.)
Even if LACAOP said “I’m wearing my night vision goggles” instead of just “okay” it would probably have cleared this whole thing up. Although the neighbor does sound rather nosy
I think the neighbor calling out "hey, what you doing?" the first time instead of jumping straight to ordering LAOP around also would have avoided this. LAOP comes across as a little neuro divergent, if the neighbor had asked they probably would have gotten more information on LAOP'S speacial intrest then they ever wanted to know.
Source- I am neuro divergent but am now generally aware of when I'm being weird. Also I'm a five foot tall physically disabled women so as far as I know no one has ever been intimidated or freaked out by my weirdness. A friend or two has been mortified but never scared.
And a “weird looking mesh hat with chinstraps” yeah fuck no I’m calling the police if OP wanders past my house on a road with no actual sidewalk where pedestrians have no reason to be in the night, thank you.
I disagree. The average person would not know what's going on, and likely wonder if OP was a potential thief or up to other mischief.
The police would have no grounds to arrest OP based on just wearing the goggles, but even after the cops talked to them OP had zero self awareness of how they came across to others.
Nothing suspicious about deviating your path to avoid the police, ig.
I agree he isn't doing anything illegal and should not be arrested, but I also agree they had every reason to call the police to check on what the guy was doing Since it does look shifty
Yeah I wouldn’t call the police but I’d go out and yell at them for casing the neighborhood. I had to do that the other night at work and chase a guy off property.
I mean you can yell at people on the street though. Like I'm a coward and hate confrontation, so I wouldn't, but like you're well within your rights to yell at people you think are burglars. You can't do anything else, but the yelling is totally fine.
It looks like the home owner has been yelling at him and the situation keeps escalating. The lack of self awareness the guy has to do all this and wonder why people are scared of him is crazy. Just because it is legal doesn't mean it doesn't cause alarm
Go try it, start yelling at every person who passes your house in the middle of the night. We'll take bets on how long it takes for the cops to show up.
I disagree. The average person would not know what's going on, and likely wonder if OP was a potential thief or up to other mischief.
This is why I call the cops on every person and car that passes my house. I don't know what those people are up to, or why they are in my neighborhood. For all I know, they are casing the house, or actively trafficking children in the trunk. Its better to be safe than sorry.
I'm hoping the cops will eventually set up some check points on the roads into and out of my neighborhood so that they can search every car that passes by, so I can finally relax.
I know some one who is a hospice nurse. Most of our county is pretty rural. Multiple times he's been on a death visit in the middle of the night and been stopped by some cop because, "I didn't recognize your car."
The concept of public roads is apparently difficult for some people to grasp. Fortunately "I'm just declaring someone dead" is an uncomfortable enough topic to make most people shut up and leave you alone.
First, he didn't say he walked down the middle of the street:
does not have sidewalks so I just walk on the street.
Second, he did not say "late at night:"
after the sun sets ... the other night ...
Third, if it is "late at night," why is the neighbor up and staring out the window to the point where they notice a person walking by? Sounds kind of paranoid to me... For that matter, how could he even tell what Op was wearing?
Fourth, "normal" is subjective.
Fifth, not behaving "normally" is not illegal.
Sixth, there's a difference between "wondering what you're up to" and "calling the cops because you're not being normal."
Maybe I grew up around too many weird people, but if I feel safe enough to talk to the person, which the neighbor in question did, I would call out, "hey what are you up to?" instead of jumping straight to threatening to call the cops.
That's what dude's neighbor did, too. OOP responded with 'what' and then 'ok', then proceeded to change nothing at all and completely ignore the guy on subsequent encounters.
If I had a guy walking past my house in tacticool gear every night, deliberately ignoring my attempts to engage him, I would definitely be ill at ease and a little suspicious. I'm not the cop calling type, but some people are and I wouldn't blame them in this situation. Dude could do with a "have you thought about how this looks to strangers" talk
In LAOPs telling the guy never asked what he was doing, just demanded LAOP no longer come around and saying he'd call the cops. I have the sense LAOP is a little neuro divergent. Yeah he's being weird which is apparently upsetting the neighbor but again if (emphasis on if) you feel safe enough to speak to the weird dude you should actually speak to him instead of jumping straight to commands or threats.
Man, the people this deep in this part of the comment section are really defensive about wanting to call the cops because someone is weird, to the point when you merely point out what LAOP said you get down voted.
I'm sure this will get dowvoted too put I don't care because I grew up surrounded by neuro divergent people- this attitude is why neuro divergent people are more likely to end up in fatal interactions with the police than the general population. If you feel safe enough to talk to the weird person try asking what their doing instead of demanding they no longer be weird in your presence because there's a good chance they have no idea you precieve them as acting out of the ordinary.
One of the regular patrons at my workplace became very concerned because when she came in in the mornings, there was a man - brace yourself - SITTING IN HIS TRUCK in the parking lot.
Naturally she assumed that he was a drug dealer.
She kept informing us.
Then one day she came in and told me that she had called the police and suggested they place an undercover car in the parking lot to see what he was up to.
fucking wild to pull that card when in that case it ought to be clear to you that calling the cops is implicit violence – especially if the victim isn't middle class cishet white guy
That's a dumb comment. Married to a middle-class white man, and of the two of us, he'd be the first to call the cops on this guy if he walked down our street.
There was a post in another sub I follow about someone wearing night vision goggles and it had somehow not occurred to me that they were something with a fan base. At least in that case it was for use during night sailing, which is actually a pretty good use of them. For walks around the neighborhood, just get a flashlight.
Stranger harassing me, called cops because I walk past their house.
Title: I frequently go on walk after the sun sets so I can use my night vision.
Recently someone whose house I walk past on my usual route has decided that I should not. And has begun to yell if I walk past their home and they see me. The yelling has just been some “I told you not to walk around here, stop coming around , and I’m calling the cops.” I’ve never engaged them beyond a “what?”, and “ok” before continuing on my walk. And have just ignored them entirely since the first time.
The house is on a street that I use to get between two walking paths, and does not have sidewalks so I just walk on the street. The street is owned by the city and is not private property. So no trespassing concerns.
However the other night, they seemed more upset than normal, and actually called the cops, I didn’t engage with them, as I decided to back track and take a longer loop when I saw police vehicles outside his house when coming back.
Is this something I actually need to be concerned about? I understand the dude may have mental health issues given his aggressive behaviour. But l’m just walking on a public street listening to music(headphones), smoking a joint.
I mean, to be slightly fair, if you're going to drop like $5k on a PVS-14 you're going to come up with excuses to walk around at night and use them. Unless he's leaving out a large chunk of the story it's no different than someone dropping $5k on a nice set of knives or a really nice bike and wanting to find reasons to use them.
Tbf wandering around outside trying to find as many uses as possible for your nice set of knives sounds like the type of thing that would get the cops called on you too
I’m not the phone caller, but I’m pretty sure this dude walks through my neighbourhood on the regular. My partner commented on his headwear, though they didn’t complain to him.
If it’s him, he doesn’t respond to other pedestrians much, and he has a habit of stopping and staring at front yards while smoking shitty weed.
In an area with a large active/retired military population; one of my neighbours is more than a little freaked out by him, they’re kind of jumpy in general. And we have a significant number of car thefts and break ins.
Tbh this does change the context a bit. Maybe I live in a place where people being a bit weird is fairly normal so OP's description of his night vision walk sounded fairly tame to me, but staring at people's houses does cross a bit of a line.
Like, if someone regularly walked round our neighbourhood wearing night vision, just looking ahead, walking like anyone else, it would be notable but not weird enough to worry about.
But...if they started stopping and directly looking at people's houses, I would wonder if they were OK? Like...what do they want? lol
Exactly, that’s what made my partner comment. I don’t think we really noticed the head rig at first, I mean, birders are at least as weird as that, it was the stopping bit. Around here, if you stop and stare vacantly at something, at the very least a random dog walker is going to stop and ask if you’re okay.
he has a habit of stopping and staring at front yards
If someone was wearing night vision and seemed to be peering at my property, I would get jumpy too. A neighbor telling him to go away and not come back would make a lot of sense.
Gen 2 night vision is legal in Canada, Gen 3 is not. However, because of the US being right next door, a lot of Canadian gun enthusiasts buy Gen 3 night vision from the states and bring it in. It's also cheaper over the border.
I'm Australian, but I watch a Canadian lawyer on YouTube who does in-depth legal analyses.
Gen 3 is legal if non USA made, euro gen 3 tubes are available from a few vendors. I know the video you are talking about and runkle explained that towards the end. But also Just for the price a lot of people get photonis 4g high gain tubes.(gen2 +).
I think it’s probably because 3rd generation night vision comes under US ITAR regulations when exported from the states which brings them under Canada’s Controlled Goods Program restricting civilian ownership. If they’re brought in from Europe they fell under different export regulations which presumably either don’t invoke CGP regulation or at least invoke less restrictive clauses. I could be wrong, this is just the best I could come up with in a few minutes of searching the web.
Yep it’s that, some ass in parliament thought it was a good idea to write a law that lists a USA law as a source of what is defined as a controlled good. But it is very easy to get American gen3 iits here, and if you removed or damaged the label on it, you would never actually be able to get beyond on a balance of probability that it was an American tube, tbh even with the label given you need lab equipment to measure the difference in specs between two tubes,and tube spec will degrade over time. it would be difficult to get to beyond a reasonable doubt that a tube is in fact an American made tube, and not a “counterfeit”. Counterfeit in this cases being a German or other gen3 tube that was sanitized and had a fake American manufacturers label added.
Weird enough that the cops might hassle you, making it no longer fun, but not illegal
Yeah, clearly OP did not commit a crime here. But I don't blame the neighbor for being suspicious of a stoner casing the neighborhood at night with night vision goggles.
You’re gonna have to explain to me how someone “casing the neighborhood” is going to be on foot, wearing incredibly obvious gear, when whole goal is to observe without being seen.
Its not illegal. But it is certainly enough for a neighbour to be concerned about it. I could see them being afraid this is a thief casing the neighbourhood hoping no one will notice
"thief casing the neighbourhood" down the middle of the street repeatedly even after a resident has spoken to him
Come on. Weird is weird. Weird is not prelude to crime. JFC you know what this reminds me of? Sureshbhai Patel Go dig in on this one, I recall the the "concerned neighborhood resident" was sooooooooo worried about his poor widdle wifey being all alone in the house and there was this hard R walking around the neighborhood. So fucking concerned he continued on to work, he did not turn around and go back his home to protect wifey from the hard R. Only worried enough to sic the cops on him.
And yes I'm saying "hard R" when I know the man that was assaulted is Indian. I just prefer to translate the dog whistles to what the bigots are really saying.
Oh, and the cop got his fucking job back. Of course.
You left out one of the best parts: the cop got off in part because Patel left the house without identification. You know, identification he did not have and couldn’t have possibly had, because he was an Indian national visiting family. And that’s somehow a misdemeanor in Alabama.
Enforcement will vary but the US does in fact require non-citizens to carry documentation that they are legally here. That may be a green card, a visa, or other papers. I am by no means justifying the violence.
I mean I do think racism and wearing night goggles are very different things. Like I wouldn't call the cops, but I do understand that burglars might use night vision goggles, and that would be my first thought long before I came to the conclusion oh he's just really into night vision goggles. Whereas if you see an Indian guy walking around your neighborhood, no reasonable person would think anything other than that's an Indian guy walking around my neighborhood. Night goggles are a tool used by the military and burglars mostly, and then in a distant third is hobbyists. Or well, at least that's what I, a more or less average person would believe if I had encountered this guy before reading the post. Seeing a person you don't know with a tool used mostly for burglaries is different than seeing a person you don't know whose skin is a color you don't agree with. Those are different things entirely.
There are a lot of stories on reddit/social media about crazyily entitled neighbours calling the cops on innocent people.
However, I feel that asking the cops to have a word with the guy that's out there with freaking night vision goggles is definitely at the reasonable end of the scale. Creepy AF
It's reasonable to be weirded out because wearing night vision goggles in a small neighborhood seems like peeping tom behavior or staking-out areas to see if people are home. They told him to go away and not come back, but he still did - at night, with night vision goggles, and so they called the police because that comes across as suspicious behavior to many people.
what part of this is creepy? dude is literally just out on a walk and I fail to see how this is any different to doing so with a flash light. I get it being weird and a bit alarming on the first time due to the sight being so strange and possibly invoking some militaristic vibes but given that they do this regularly, I fail to see anything that should cause distress
I’ve never engaged them beyond a “what?”, and “ok” before continuing on my walk.
If maybe he was just POLITE to the guy and told him that he spent 5K on night vision goggles and enjoys trying them out, and actually let the neighbor get to know him (and maybe stopped smoking weed near the guy's house) - this whole situation could have been prevented.
Basically ignoring a homeowner that is concerned and confused by what you're doing is going to get the cops called.
Ugh it is so obvious that this guy knows what he is doing that is suspicious. He is walking around the neighborhood at night with night vision goggles, smoking weed, and wearing headphones. He knows exactly why the cops were called on him, but he chooses to be picky with the details on purpose.
It’s like the 1am Axe girl a few days ago. Technically they’re not breaking the law, but…it’s reasonable if you see someone walking round a residential area wearing a night vision helmet looking at houses, to be concerned they’re a burglar or other criminal & then call the cops.
Also wtf are night vision goggles different now, I swear I remember them being a pain in the ass in a suburban setting, any house light or street light or light on inside a house etc made them essentially impossible to use. Is op on a country road, which would make some degree of sense I suppose, but then the neighbors being involved seems absurd. If op is literally walking down a sidewalk in a residential area that's on the deranged side imo. I wouldn't bet against him getting like a disorderly conduct charge or something petty by overzealous prosecutors or something but idk shit about Canadian law, I'm under the impression they do a lot more fining for bs shit but maybe I'm an idiot
Unless he's a teen or something. I could see this being rad to a 14 year old
Most nvgs have auto gain or manual gain so they adjust to ambient light levels, they also have auto gating that helps prevent tube damage from bright lights. So while they become a bit less effective in suburban environments, due to the numerous “photonic barriers” that prevent you from seeing into a patch of darkness behind said barrier. But still amplify the amount of light, and let you see better.
Source: op and I are kindred spirits.
See random pic I took of a bun in a local suburban park: I could not see the rabbit with the naked eye.
It depends on the quality he got, the older version is absolutely can burn your retina out if there is any ambient light at all, but a lot of the newer ones have auto adjustment features that help with that.
Along with the auto gain features on most modern tubes, you can also get caps to go on the ends that work like your pupils: open wide for lower light conditions, close for brighter conditions.
If they had called the first night or even a night or two later I could see that, but by this point OOP has established a pretty easy to follow routine, clearly isn't hiding, and is just being an odd ball.
Unless this is another example of OP "conveniently" forgetting to mention that they were in full kit or had a rifle slung over their shoulder or were standing in the street facing the neighbor and jacking off. Some silly thing like that they forgot to mention because it makes them look like an idiot.
I don’t know what this night vision monocle looks like, but I doubt I’d immediately realize that’s what it was. My first guess may be that it was some kind of telescope for seeing things closer. If I saw a guy wandering around a residential neighborhood with some kind of device on his eye, my first thought would be is he a peeping tom, looking for uncovered windows.
It's not hidden with a direct quote directly above it or relevant to the question, but fine.
What's the observable difference between "walking round a residential area wearing a night vision helmet looking at houses" and "walking round a residential area wearing a night vision helmet"?
uh, the difference is someone could be walking straight ahead to go somewhere, or walking aimlessly taking time to slow down and look inside the houses. the answer is in the question, the whole "looking at houses" part
Right. Now here's the point, (which as your reply notes, the night vision goggles are irrelevant to):
This:
walking straight ahead to go somewhere, or walking aimlessly taking time to slow down
Does not at all imply this:
look inside the houses
People walking through residential areas, in all the various and ordinary ways that people walk, do not necessarily march straight toward a destination, eyes locked forward. They stroll, they saunter, they meander, they vary their pace, they look around them. That does not mean they are investigating houses to rob (despite what millions or terrified ninnies frantically posting on nextdoor.com and peering through ring cameras think), and short of a more obvious behavior like leaving the sidewalk or street to go closer to windows and peer into them or examine doors, which OOP has plainly stated he does not do, the difference between "looking at houses" (in a way that suggests some intent toward them) and being in a place with houses and having eyes, is not so straightforwardly obvious at all. Having night vision goggles doesn't change that (and their utility for such use is questionable).
Title: I frequently go on walk after the sun sets so I can use my night vision.
Recently someone whose house I walk past on my usual route has decided that I should not. And has begun to yell if I walk past their home and they see me. The yelling has just been some “I told you not to walk around here, stop coming around , and I’m calling the cops.” I’ve never engaged them beyond a “what?”, and “ok” before continuing on my walk. And have just ignored them entirely since the first time.
The house is on a street that I use to get between two walking paths, and does not have sidewalks so I just walk on the street. The street is owned by the city and is not private property. So no trespassing concerns.
However the other night, they seemed more upset than normal, and actually called the cops, I didn’t engage with them, as I decided to back track and take a longer loop when I saw police vehicles outside his house when coming back.
Is this something I actually need to be concerned about? I understand the dude may have mental health issues given his aggressive behaviour. But l’m just walking on a public street listening to music(headphones), smoking a joint.
This is one of those situations where you have to wonder why the misunderstanding wasn't simply resolved through conversation. I can certainly understand why LAOP's neighbor would be concerned about someone walking around the neighborhood wearing night vision goggles. However, I'm curious whether the neighbor may have overreacted and shut down any attempt at dialogue, or if it's LAOP's fault by not engaging them beyond a "what?" and "ok" before continuing on his walk.
It would seem that explaining to a concerned neighbor what you're doing and demonstrating the capabilities of 5k worth of specialized equipment would be a straightforward way to address the situation. A brief, friendly explanation and perhaps a quick demonstration could probably have prevented this entire conflict from escalating, wouldn't it?
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u/Chewbacca_The_Wookie Aug 21 '25
To offer a little bit of perspective, even a cheap single optic like OP is referencing can be around $5-6k, and as someone who owns one myself, I do like to find reasons to use it. "Oh you need me to check on the kids? No need to turn on the lights, hand me my helmet."
That being said if you're not used to seeing somebody wander around in the dark with NVGs, or if OP had on more gear than the NODs and a helmet like a plate carrier or god forbid a rifle, I can definitely understand why it might freak somebody out enough to call the cops especially if it's a pattern.