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Original poster

Will the police actually do anything if I report neighbours for selling weed?

69 replies

Givemethestrength · 02/05/2020 21:00

Name changed obviously. My next door neighbours son is always smoking weed in the garden (he stays there a few nights a week) and has people coming round all throughout the day obviously to pick up drugs. We share a path so it's not like I'm looking out for them. Since lockdown the son has moved out because his mom is in a vulnerable category (seems to have some disabilities I'm not sure what) but it's become apparent that the mom is carrying on selling the weed for her son! We still have people coming and going a few times a day despite lockdown. She lives alone and I know they're not friends or family as they're always different people.

So my question is, what will the police do if I report them? Do they actually care? It's not like they'll search their house or anything will they.

OP posts:
Original poster
Givemethestrength · 02/05/2020 21:02

I don't know if it's relevant but we own our house and they are renting off the council. Could we report them to the landlord? Would it be anonymous?

OP posts:
Timeforredwine · 02/05/2020 23:51

Hi, I'm not too sure about this one personally I would bare in mind that if you interfere in someone else's life be prepared for them to interfere in yours. Is this affecting your life or living in any way? Owning your own home or renting doesnt make anyone better or lesser than anyone else so in that respect is irrelevant or was you asking who to report it to due to this.

cornersteps · 02/05/2020 23:52

So my question is, what will the police do if I report them?

Probably nothing

Do they actually care?

The likely already know

Doingtheboxerbeat · 03/05/2020 03:52

I used to work for a housing association and no they won't do anything, but you can still log it with them.

Lynda07 · 03/05/2020 03:59

Why bother to report them? Just because people are coming and going during the day sometimes, you have no proof anyone is actually selling weed. It was likely, while the son was there, that people were sharing it, that is what people do - it's a social thing. You can't go arround accusing people of drug selling without evidence and it's not very kind to a neighbour who is disabled.

The fact she is a housing association/council tenant and you own your property is hardly relevant. If anyone is going to be 'done' for this, it will be the tenant, not the person who owns the house when they don't live on the premises.

In your position I'd mind my own business, maybe build a higher fence or a wall and put down some trees. You'll probably still smell it occasionally when the weather is good but it won't be so obvious.

The police are unlikely to do anything, they have bigger fish to fry. A few pot smokers aren't important in the scheme of things.

Reginabambina · 03/05/2020 04:09

Unfortunately the police turn a blind eye to small scale drug dealing. I doubt they’ll do anything.

CockCarousel · 03/05/2020 04:12

I don't know if it's relevant but we own our house and they are renting off the council

Make sure to tell the police this when you report your neighbours. They'll take you much more seriously.

Lynda07 · 03/05/2020 04:57

CockCarousel Sun 03-May-20 04:12:16
I don't know if it's relevant but we own our house and they are renting off the council

Make sure to tell the police this when you report your neighbours. They'll take you much more seriously.
......
:-).

I'm eternally grateful to live somewhere in which the neighbours mind their own business about everything. Oh they'd be helpful to each other if necessary but don't look into each other's gardens or make a note of who comes and goes. It's totally private.

At the age of seventy I'm not going to start selling weed but it would be nice to know if I did, no one would know or care. The mind boggles at the cottage industries that could be started from a suburban house, I wish I was more enterprising!

carriebreadshaw · 03/05/2020 05:27

Mind your own business. It's a bit of weed. Everyone is trying to make a living at the moment. It's not heroin... live and let live

Sargass0 · 03/05/2020 08:03

They'll be round immediately- armed-breaking down the door and carrying out a full scale raid. That'll learn 'em

Incrediblytired · 03/05/2020 08:07

Oh leave them alone. People are bored shitless during the lockdown and she’s probably selling a bit of weed to her sons friends who are happily sitting at home getting stoned. Don’t take their supplier from them, drugs are hard to come by in lockdown 😂😂😂

honie458 · 03/05/2020 08:09

Just leave them be

mollibu · 03/05/2020 08:12

I don't know if it's relevant but we own our house and they are renting off the council

Nope. Not relevant, but of course you had to throw that in there Hmm

Live and let live, OP. You have no solid proof that they're selling drugs apart from the fact a few people have walked up your path. If they're causing you no bother, then just let them be.

Eeyoresstickhouse · 03/05/2020 08:13

I have experience of this and sadly the police wont do anything. It's too small for them to be bothered about. Our flat stinks on a daily basis due to the neighbours smoking and selling weed. Topped off with music 24/7 its hell.

For those saying it harms no one, my toddler once picked up a bag of weed that someone from the property dropped in the driveway. Luckily I saw straight away and grabbed it off her.

QualityFeet · 03/05/2020 08:14

Weed selling isn’t a victimless crime in its production or sale. Landlords can evict tenants for this type of offence (but generally don’t) so that fact is relevant. I wouldn’t want dealers next door - Low level criminality does little to improve house prices and the neighbourhood. The Mumsnet advice seems to be report lock down infringers unless they happen to be your drug dealing neighbours.

RelapsedChocoholic · 03/05/2020 08:20

OP unfortunately no, the police are highly unlikely to do anything.
IMO coronavirus is the latest excuse, but essentially they don’t bother to act against law breakers unless it’s impossible for them not to ie someone has died/ the press are involved

You could complain to the council/housing association but they are also unlikely to do anything because it’s more work than reward.

Herpesfreesince03 · 03/05/2020 08:41

It’s not unreasonable to not want to live next to drug dealers op. Unfortunately the police are generally uninterested in reports like these. Unless they’re doing something else that’s causing a disturbance or breaching the peace then it’s probably wise to let them get on with it

MaybeDoctor · 03/05/2020 09:03

It’s not a victimless crime.

Absolutely. If you have ever read any of the news reports about the vulnerable young people cruelly enslaved in cannabis farms (that also steal electricity from the grid) then you wouldn’t be so quick to paint it as some kind of benign indulgence.

x2boys · 03/05/2020 09:26

I doubt it I live on a council estate if the police were to arrest everybody who ,sold ,smoked weed etc they would be arresting half the estate .There's a guy who lives in the flats opposite who apparently sells Heroin,there was a,big police chase last year involving weapons and he's still there .

honie458 · 03/05/2020 09:41

@MaybeDoctor I never heard that lmao

Lynda07 · 03/05/2020 10:00

Herpesfreesince03 Sun 03-May-20 08:41:16
It’s not unreasonable to not want to live next to drug dealers op. Unfortunately the police are generally uninterested in reports like these. Unless they’re doing something else that’s causing a disturbance or breaching the peace then it’s probably wise to let them get on with it
......
I agree with that. However I imagine most people wouldn't know if their next door neighbours were dealing and the op has no proof that hers are, only that their son smoked it sometimes. There's a big difference between that and dealing. I know my neighbours haven't a clue what I do, if anything, and I have little idea or interest about them (pretty sure there are no drugs involved). The only time would be the smell of it wafting over the garden wall in good weather and even then, that's just smoking it, not dealing.

The op says the woman next door is disabled so I think she should be given the benefit of the doubt. Can any of us begin to imagine what it would be like to be accused of a crime we did not commit, when we are in a vulnerable position already?

I also fail to see the relevance of the op owning her home and her neighbour, renting.

totallydevoidofideas · 03/05/2020 10:24

Do you think it's possible they are growing it as well?

MaybeDoctor · 03/05/2020 11:06

For example:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-51176958

@honie458

DGRossetti · 03/05/2020 11:10

Weed selling isn’t a victimless crime in its production or sale

Even if you grow it yourself ?

Lynda07 · 03/05/2020 11:51

You need the room and facilities to grow it at home, I doubt many would be able to do it unless they have a heated greenhouse and can hide cannabis plants in between other plants. I do know some people have grown one cannabis plant in one of those big goldfish bowl pots with a big light bulb above but growing is generally more sophisticated than what one can do in a council/housing association property.

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