To phone the police?

[couldcry123]

A drug dealer has moved in above me.
They've been blaring music now for a few hours, screaming and banging around. It is only 8pm but I hate it. I don't want to go and knock on his door because I am scared and live alone.
Would IBU to phone the police instead? It would be obvious it was me as i am the only person in the flat below.
It just terrifies me

How do you know that this new upstairs neighbour is a drug dealer?

Yeah, explain how exactly you know he's dealing drugs? Anti-social behaviour doesnt mean drugs are being doled out

Yes, call them.

Typical mumsnet responses. There’ll be someone along to correct your grammar and quiz you on why you live alone any minute

The police won't be interested in a noise complaint at 8pm surely.

Are you serious?

OP to police - "Id like to report someone dealing drugs?"

Police - "What makes you think theres drugs being dealt?"

OP - "theres loud music and banging"

Could be a know drug dealer? I live in a smallish town and I know several drug dealers by face but I've never done drugs. Sometimes it's just a known fact.

Call the police if they are being a nuisance

How do you know that this new upstairs neighbour is a drug dealer?

Well if its anything like my town everyone knows who the dealers are.

The police can’t do anything about noise complaints. You need to report it to the environmental health department of the council.

The police have no power over noise, the most they can do is knock and ask them to keep it down but if they refuse they can’t enforce it. They also will not have time or means to do so at 8pm.

It's not difficult to work out who drug dealers are in my experience! And in certain areas in my town they're well known.

How do you know they are drug dealers?

If you know then the police probably know as well - they'll have followed the ice cream van (other threads are available)

I used to live in a flat below a dealer, I knew he dealt because of the visitors he would get 24 hours a day (and he'd sometimes do them 'discreetly, outside his front door).

I don’t think OP was asking for advice on how to spot a drug dealer, I read the post as that was a fact.

My worry re calling the police is I’m not sure what it would achieve?

I know the drug dealers around here by face. I don't take drugs but when you see people regularly coming and going from a house and literally stay seconds it's a bit telling when there are multiple people doing it.
The best one was in our old area. Some cars would park up the road and he'd run to the car and quickly leave again. I wonder what he was doing

It's a small town I live in and have known of this particular man for years.
I didn't mean phone the police about the drugs, I just meant about the music, screaming and shouting. I know I was probably being unreasonable but I was just a bit grumpy after getting home and wanting to relax.

I know it was a silly question really I think I just needed to vent and felt a bit alone and scared.

If you decide to please only ring 101 NOT 999 -'it's clearly not an emergency!

Ps I didn't phone in the end

What did I get deleted for?!

I didn't mean phone the police about the drugs, I just meant about the music, screaming and shouting.

The loud music is your main complaint, the police wouldn’t come out for that. Certainly not on an emergency response, so they wouldn’t even come out to tell them to keep it down. And just say they somehow did arrive immediately, no one would get arrested over loud music so the police wouldn’t be carting them off anywhere. They’d still be your neighbour and still be in their property.

If you call you’d have to focus on the screaming/shouting & say how you’re (genuinely) concerned someone is getting hurt - but the police won’t be impressed if you lie/exaggerate obviously.

Noise complaints needs to be dealt with via the council. You can anonymously send in a complaint online, your council should have a form you complete and send back. If they wish to enforce the offense in court, they may be in touch for you to be a witness.

If its about the drugs, get in touch with your police force. Again you can do so anonymously via telephone 101 or online they have an online form you can complete. Again, they can contact you for evidence or to stand in court.

I would log the disturbances in a diary- 1 off at 8pm isn't going to cut it. It needs to be quite bad for them to be involved.
I had an issue with my neighbour, I tried talking to them twice but it didn't sink in. I logged a complaint online, council came out at 7am to monitor pet disturbance. It was proven to be one. Neighbour received a warning. Council came out again during the day and again disturbance was noted. Neighbour got threated with court. Council requested to proceed, neighbour came round to apologise so I declined to proceed. Thankfully the issue was rapidly resolved by the neighbour within 2 weeks.

Think about:

*a burglar alarm
*CCTV for your own property / the flat's management company (or equivalent) for the communal areas
*equipment that will allow you to monitor the noise
*keeping a diary of times/dates of noise levels
*fitting soundproofing insulation to your ceiling / door.
*checking how to report noise complaints to the council in your area