We live near a house where there’s constant entry – or at least doorbell and knocking – at all hours. 10am, 10pm, 4am. It’s hard not to be suspicious. (And frankly it wakes us up at those early morning hours.) I am a bit worried about reporting anything to the police as I don’t want any retribution to happen to our home. How does the police handle these things? What do you all recommend I do?
Central District News
Independent news & discussion, 24/7
Call SPD East Precinct and explain the situation. Don’t give them your name or address without ensuring they will keep it confidential. Explain you don’t want any officer contact and explain why. You’re not the first person to have this situation, and they know what to do.
And RIGHT now get alarms for your house and car. A home alarm is so much nicer than waking up with someone in your house. I speak from experience. Motion sensor lights on the outside of the house and locks on your gate if you have one. Don’t leave anything in your car – not books, not papers, nothing. Any items in the car attract the drug addicts wandering by to break your window looking for something worth trading or selling.
Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do. When they do get reported, they will assume it was probably you anyway so you can expect some retaliation whether you report or not. If you do report and the police bother to respond (they won’t), but, if they do, they will say they had a complaint from a neighbor and inadvertantly not towards your house.
Your neighbors are drug dealers. Crime will increase from frequent petty crimes like noise, thumping music from waiting vehicles then to peeing on your walk, littering, car prowls. Eventually there will be fights spilling onto your lawn, loud confrontations. Eventually drive by shootings and home invasion robberies. Your home may be shot up and invaded by mistake. In the long run there will be a SWAT team assault on your neighborhood, tear gas, etc. You will have to spend some time in a hotel and perhaps have a hazmat company have do some clean up of your home.
Not much you can do. It will be tough to sell your devalued home once people realize there is an active crack house next door. I would invest in bullet proof glass, a steal door, cameras, and a security system with panic alarm. Limit your time outside the house to between 9am and 1pm. This is the down time for crack buyers. When coming and going park quicky and scurry into the house. Consider purchasing some junk cars to fill all the parking in front of your house so that you wont have criminals waiting right there. Having a loaded fire are always at hand is a good idea in case they come inside your house by mistake or looking form some quick cash.
The outlook is bleak.
Huh, Timmy, that is not helpful to the OP. Someone coming to look for advice should get advice. I wish that there was something actionable you could recommend without sarcasm that could help the OP and others who may have the same problem.
I dunno man. Are you sure I am not right about this? Sarcastic yes, but, probably spot on. Police response to these things typcially takes years to decades if ever.
I’m sure many people here will attest to endless history of drug houses in the CD and the decades of pain experienced by neighbors. I want to believe there is something constructive to do. I have withheald my more activist suggestion of escalating the situation to an early crisis point. The sooner you can have a massive police response or two the better. Report all suspicous circumsances as possible weapon involved, may have been shots fired, threats heard. There certainly could be. there certainly will be.
Yeah, maybe. Let’s see what the OP says. I wish things weren’t so bleak.
I dunno. Short of the Swat Team and hazmat scenario we lived with all those things for 15 years, while actively involving the community police team, the community council, letter writing campaigns to the Mayor and East Precinct Captain, calling 911 constantly, having their cars ticketed, having the health department cite them for rats, etc. with 2 different such houses on our block. Eventually, we moved. Drugs are still sold out of those 2 houses – now by adults who weren’t even born when I was calling on their parents – some 20 years from when I started calling 911. The woman we bought that house from moved for the same reason, and had done all the same things we did for the 8 years prior to our starting it.
Now that’s what I’m talking about! Been there and done it myself. Seen it done several dozen times. There is no hope to solve this by normal means in the near future if ever. Rat’s have invaded and the law prevents all directly functional responses.
The only working solution I have come up with and observed to work is a more convoluted and obtuse action. These are unstable people. The only way to bring them down is to get them to over react and draw a violent police response to their insanity.
Get them paranoid somehow. I like to slingshot rocks onto the roof of the house, from a distance and not from my house. Randomly at various hours. Strange reports that require a police response – made from disposable phones you can pick up at a mini mart, or use a pay phone. The crack heads use these tools, we can use them as well.
Once or twice early on you can get away with tire flattening and other damage. The kind of stuff that makes you mad will drive the druggies nuts, ramp up their paranoia and cause them to strike out at their enemies.
It seems counter intuitive to actually incite violence, but, they sooner they drive off the cliff, the sooner you will have peace. The police will not help. They never do until it is too late.