Posted by B2chica on July 15, 2004, at 14:53:18
In reply to Re: I Witnessed A Crime » partlycloudy, posted by Elle2021 on July 15, 2004, at 14:36:06
2 parts:
first, we have a "crimestoppers hotline" in our area. it's not directly the police but it's a medium to them. you can choose to be anonymous or not. See if you have something like this in your area. If not i agree with going to a payphone (which i've done even with crimestoppers cuz you know they have caller id) anyway go to a payphone and call police and just give info anonymously-either they want the info or they don't if they insist on personal information then you can just choose to hang up. this way, you tried to help them out, you've done your part and that's all you can do. the rest is in their hands.I think your fear is very valid to you. you have obviously had some frightening episodes regarding law enforcement, some of the intensity may be coming from your wanting to help out but not, because of fear. this causes an inner conflict that intensifies your fear.
once you've at least tried to give the info (done all you can do) then this may help lessen the fear. although you may still have some residual. Have you talked to your T about this? You fear may actually be stemming from something long ago, or something you may not realize. maybe just some authority figure in general.Please know that even if you don't contact any law enforcement that i'm sure you are choosing to do so NOT because you want this "aleged criminal" to get away with anything but you are doing this out of protection for yourself. NEVER apologize for this. You can only do what you can at that moment. You instinctively protect yourself even if you don't know you are doing it at that moment. (something i've recently learned in therapy-that i'm still dealing with). It's a hard lesson to understand, for me anyway. but it's true.
DO NOT be hard on yourself.Please take care (((((Elle)))))
B2c.
poster:B2chica
thread:366498
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040706/msgs/366545.html