to think I should call the police?

[emy72]

My parents are visiting from abroad for a couple of weeks. Yesterday they took the children (2, 3 and 5) to the park, which is just around the corner. On their way, they passed a house where there are a large number of dogs, typically perched against the windows barking and jumping every time soneone goes by.

The kids looked instinctively at the window as they were looking for the dogs. My daughter said the dogs were all asleep with their owner sat with them so they all quickly moved on.

They all headed to the park, my dad way ahead with the pushchair, and my mum lagging behind with the 3 and 5 year old.

Suddenly the woman from the house leapt out and followed my mum to the park. She yelled and yelled and was so close to her the kids believe she was pushing my mum (my mum says she wasn't), however my mum could barely understand what she was saying as she doesn't understand english very well at all.

My mum kept saying sorry instinctively and tried to get away but she would keep following her. My mum is small and frail (nearly 70) and the woman was in her 40s, very tall but still on her tiptoes and towering over my mum screaming so much abuse, the kids were all in floods of tears.

My dad then heard the screaming so came to see what was happening and told the woman to go away and leave them alone (politely). So she did.

They all came home shaking and crying.

My dd (5( said the woman was saying lots of naughty words and was angry because the children were looking in her window and were bloody rude. She apparently said "you are clearly not from this country why don't you p** off to where you've come from" and "people like you should live in a gutter" and other delightful words that my dd could not really bring herself to say (she kept saying "naughty words mummy").

As you can imagine my blood was boiling so much. I wanted my DH to go round there and have a polite word with this woman but he says he doesn't want to as she is clearly mad.

My only other option is to call the police. But would you do it? Is it over the top? I am so angry. I just feel she was so over the top and frightened my children and my parents so much they are now too scared to walk to the park.

What would you do?

No of course I didn't miss it - the OP said her mum can't speak English hardly at all, so she is clearly not from this country!

OK - I think we're talking semantics here - race is not the same as nationality.

I do understand, but my point is that the police may only class it as racist if she is actually a different race, not just a different nationality - I don't know, I've never tested it myself, but I don't think xenophobia falls under the same classification as racism.

Having said that - if the OP's mum and dad were feeling threatened and the woman was right in their faces, and possibly pointing in a threatening manner then she can be reported for assault, even if she didn't actually lay a finger on them.

Have to say I know what Thumbwitch means. I am a non-English caucasian. I got TONS of abuse based on my nationality etc at school after we moved here. I think I was a perfect target due to being caucasian not of another ethnicity, so the bullying was more 'acceptable'. i also agree that this shouldn't be the case!

An incident is racial if anyone perceives it to be....so even if the police don't or even the victim doesn't but anyone else does (passer by? the offender?), then it is a racial incident.

You are all right in what you are saying - including what QueenofDreams says - but even the Wiki quote doesn't clearly state whether a xenophobic attack would constitute a racial attack. I have been trawling through a pdf on Institutional Racism in the police force and the best I can come up with so far is this:
"Racism, in short, is insensitivity to the
feelings of members of ethnic minorities."
(page 3 of this report

Absolutely it should not be tolerated, regardless of whether it is racial or xenophobic, I was just trying to say that the police might not view it as racism. That's all.

You can have a racist incident recorded without there necessarily being a crime though and this has a much broader definition.

Hi,

I don't mind answering the question, my mum is mediterranean so very dark skin and jet black hair. She has often been asked whether she is from India/Pakistan.

I don't know whether the woman thought they were from another country because she had heard her speak or because of the way she looked. The fact she ran after her suggests it was because of her looks but who knows what went through her mind!

I have called the police and they sent someone round to have a chat with me. She was a nice police officer and said she will go round and see what this lady has to say for herself.

She also said I can make a formal statement, which would mean having her arrested but I thought a chat from the police might suffice...

See what happens....................

emy72 - hope it works out ok. Shame your parents and Dc had to go through this - it's awful behaviour with no excuse at all unless the woman has mental health issues.

Having had an encounter with police recently... I expect that you will have 2 paths to go down. One is a formal complaint process which means a lot of time and bother from your side, making statements, police trying to find witnesses, and the other people have the chance to invent a counter complaint like... alleging your child was climbing all over the windows trying to peep inside and shouting abuse at them (or worse).

Or you get offered a kind of mediation opportunity, something like restorative justice. Which still means sitting down face to face with the loons other people.

Unfortunately, there is probably nothing inbetween those two options (like a simple chat from the police with the other party ).