LogFAQs > #886983698

Zeus posted...

Currant_Kaiser posted...

Mario_VS_DK posted...

Do my best to subtly record video or get pictures to give to the police. Otherwise, be a bystander because I'm tiny and would absolutely get killed. What would I vote? Cause I'm technically doing both.

Obviously Bystander Mode Activate. I would assume that anyone would contact the police after that in the hopes that something will come of it, but really if you let her get in that van it's probably too late for her, especially considering it's unmarked so license plate info is out.

...that's not how "unmarked" works. And if you report a van with no license plates -- which in itself is illegal and risks being pulled over at any point, hence why criminals instead use fake or stolen plates -- and the approximate location, they'd have a pretty good chance at finding it.

Nor is that how a real bystander works. In fact, the best-known example of the bystander effect had an entire apartment building witness a girl get murdered with nobody calling the cops, either because they figured it wasn't their problem or somebody else was doing it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kitty_Genovese

Hard to say whether there's really a "pretty good chance" or not. Depends on how far the nearest police station/available unit is, the layout of the area, etc. For all anyone knows they could sneak away into the goddamn mountains.

And I didn't say anything about the bystander effect. That doesn't really apply here, that requires multiple bystanders. "Bystander" is, per Google, "a person who is present at an event or incident but does not take part". I would say that doing nothing to intervene would certainly make you a bystander. Sure you might call the police afterwards, but I don't think that's enough to make the label of bystander unfitting.