What to do in this situation

[SilenceOfTheCats]

Not really AIBU but need advice in case it happens again.

I was woken up about half an hour ago by some loud shouting outside. I looked out the window and a group of about 6 youths (maybe aged 14-15) were on the roundabout just outside my home. They were banging on the road signs, and shouting at passing cars 'honk if you're horny', using the road sign pole things to 'pole dance' to traffic, and running out in the road to moon passing vehicles

It was causing cars to hoot at them and shouting from drivers, making the noise even worse. I tried to call the police on 101 to report it, but was on hold for 20 minutes. Eventually the youths left so I hung up before I was out through to anyone.

What is the best thing to do in this situation? It takes a long time to get an answer from 101 but surely this isn't a 999 scenario?

It's not the most helpful advice, but, could you pop out to them and tell them to be quiet? If they don't look the sort to brick your windows.

I never used to go out to kids causing bother because I live in a rough area and was rather scared of the repercussions. However, after loosing my rag one night and going out for a stern word, things are OK. I've seen the offenders many, many times since and now go out with a "cmon lads, move on" and off they go. Not without calling me a bitch and a dick head mind you, but, sticks and stones and all that.

I hope they don't come back op and you get a decent night's sleep!

Honestly, don't do anything.

Just don't get involved, they weren't threatening you or interested in you, they were just being a bit obnoxious outside, directed elsewhere, and have now moved on.

Try to chill out.

do not go out there.......who the fuck tells people to do that???

Unless they’re carrying on for hours, please don’t do anything silly like going out there. Call 999 if they’re causing damage, otherwise, painful tho it is, don’t get involved. Never put yourself in a position where they can touch you.

No don't go out there! Call 101, who likely won't do anything but will log the details.

I certainly wouldn't be going out there!! If they cause damage or are too loud for too long I'd call 101. Do you live alone?

Do not go near them. You would be bringing trouble to your door. Ignore and say all things will pass. And they did.

999 is for crime in progress, suspect nearby or someone is in danger. 101 is to contact police about anything else. If this incident was worrying you enough to call the police it was probably appropriate to use 999 as it was in progress. I wouldn't contact police probably if it was just a one off nuisance. However, if I thought they were endangering themselves or the road users because their behaviour was very distracting to drivers I would call 999.
I've called 999 before because I've seen someone in a hospital gown pushing themselves the wrong way down a busy
road in a wheelchair because they were a causing a danger and it was happening there and then. Obviously not a major crime but could have been a fatality so justifiably 999.

999 Will tell you to ring 101....

101 will tell you to call the local council about noise nuisance.

This literally happened to me about 10 days go with 5 drunk men shouting, pissing against my son's bedroom wall where their faces where looking through his window- and no one could have cared less.
They then continued with the noise outside my front door until 3am from midnight.

Was a very frustrating situation that noon3 seemed to want to help me with.
The police on the phone said they no longer deal.with "noise complaints" when clearly it's more than that. 🙄 x

Honestly, unless it’s a regular thing I’d do nothing

... could you pop out to them and tell them to be quiet?

Oh yeah, that’s really gonna work 😂.

you could tweet your local constabulary. I did that the other week when a very drunk girl seemed to be having difficulty within earshot of my back garden. They responded immediately.

It was some teenagers being immature bell ends. So yes, if you want to ring 101 if it happens again that’s fine. But m mooning at passing vehicles and being the cause of noise outside your house at 10.40pm is not an acceptable reason to call 999.

And probably the reason you couldn’t get through to 101 was because from the threads here, it’s probably jammed with mumsnetters logging the fact their neighbours have a dog, or someone had a bbq.

Being loud and waking people up is absolutely not something to call 999 about. Nobody was in danger and nobody’s property was being damaged. Antisocial behaviour, yes, but it doesn’t sound like an actual crime was being committed. 101 at the absolute most.

I realise it’s annoying being woken up and annoying being on hold for 20 minutes but the fact that they’d already moved on before you got through suggests it wasn’t a serious incident anyway.

do not go out there.......who the fuck tells people to do that???

^^ This

Definitely not 999. Kids usually get bored, and usually move on - as they did. I would just roll my eyes and go back to sleep! If they make a habit of it then ring your local police station.

See, I'd understand the uproar at going out there if it was a gang of men or the teens were being violent etc.... But, it's a group of kids, showing their arses to cars. Surely there's no harm in leaning over the gate and shouting to them?

I wasn't advising going out all guns blazing... Kids cannot be that bad, surely? Or am I just massively misguided?

Is it just a one off? If so, let it go.
If it starts happening regularly you can report to 101 online really easily but will need pictures or videos showing criminal damage or anti social behaviour

Don’t do anything...why would you? Unless they are there regularly it’s just a one off piece of nonsense and not for bothering about, surely?

@RubaDubMum89 it's a group of them and nobody knows what they would do, not necessarily now, but later.

Misguided I'm afraid.

Kids cannot be that bad, surely? errr... do you not read all the news on teenagers knifing each other day in day out. There were four separate teen stabbings in my area over one weekend recently. And I like where I live. It doesn’t feel unsafe in general. Kids in a group situation can get out of control very easily too, egging each other on. Definitely not wise to confront them. I feel sorry for the police having to deal with teens these days.

I used to live in a neighbourhood where we would all collectively open our windows, make ourselves visible and watch the offender. We lived adjacent to a pub so this was frequent. It was an odd thing to do but the offenders always moved on. We just all naturally did it once and when we saw it worked we kept it up. It meant that no one of us felt at risk individually. Mind you, this was in a street that was very narrow with packed in terraced houses, so we might have come across as more threatening than the offender!

We had a ridiculous noise/doughnuts in car park/cars screeching down road situ the other week, and having had a naff exp with calling and typing out a report to 101 at prev address over a vile neighbour, I looked up who to contact and found the relevant police email address. Had a call within half an hour. The next time it happened I emailed again and had another fast response. It prob depends on how busy they are (FYI our relevant station is main city one) but you might get somewhere more quickly that way

Can't you report online? The times ive tried to call 101 the automated voice told me to report online. I did so and got a call back a couple of hours later, they'd already been out looking for the person I'd been concerned about and could I give them any more details. 🤷‍♀️