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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was I unreasonable to call the (non emergency) police number?

42 replies

Laughingstock91 · 23/01/2022 09:21

We live in a quiet residential street of terraced houses with lots of families and elderly people.

Was woken up at 1am last night by a car load of lads literally having an argument and fight in their car with the door open - swearing ‘you fcking c*t’ and punching each other. Went on for about 20 mins until the driver stormed off. The others were then smoking weed (i could hear them discussing it), pissing in the street and then at one point a bag of white powder came out!! I could see all this from my window after being woken up. This went on for about 2 hours. I decided to ring the non emergency line as their behaviour was really aggressive and really bloody noisy at 1am. The police did turn up and move them on thankfully.

Was it the right thing to call the police though? I did ring the non emergency line - it felt like anti social behaviour and I have 2 elderly neighbours who both live on their own. It also woke my kids up.

Aibu? These days I am not sure of the ‘right’ thing to do. I was home alone with my kids last night as DP works shifts so it felt scary & threatening.

OP posts:
VelvetChairGirl · 23/01/2022 11:27

fighting and using illegal drugs, I would have called 999, what if they drove off and caused a massive car accident.

VelvetChairGirl · 23/01/2022 11:30

@DiddyHeck

Mind you the police obviously didn't do their job if they just 'moved them on' when the car would've stunk of weed and they had a bag of white powder.
and they were probably drunk too.

still what is moved on when they are drugged up and in a car?

bigdecisionstomake · 23/01/2022 11:32

I agree it was reasonable to call on the 101 number but we did this on holiday for similar (not identical) circumstances and were basically told in a round about way we were wasting their time.

We were staying in a holiday let that backed onto a wide alleyway (not mentioned when we booked) and a group of around a dozen teens were congregating, drinking alcohol and smoking weed under a security light and getting louder and louder. By midnight we were trying to sleep and unable to for the shouting and screeching (no fight - just enjoying themselves and showing off).

We initially opened a window that backed onto the alley and asked them to keep the noise down but were greeted by rude hand gestures and swearing.

By 1am we'd had enough and called 101 only to get an automated message saying they were really busy and to report using the online system which we did. We ended up in a live chat with someone (not sure if they were civilian or police) who asked lots of questions like how did we know they were teens if it was dark, how did we know it was alcohol they were drinking, how did we know it was weed they were smoking etc... All easily answered as they were gathering under a security light and the bottles were easily identifiable and the smell of weed was very strong once we opened the window.

The tone was really very much that we were getting worked up over nothing. They basically said in the end they didn't have the resources to send anyone but would log it.

The group eventually dispersed about an hour later and we were finally able to sleep. It happened again a few nights later and we didn't bother to report on that occasion as we'd really been made to feel we were wasting the police's time.

We did leave an honest review on the holiday accommodation website though, as it looked to us from the rubbish left there that it was a regular meeting place and would be an ongoing problem for guests staying there.

Medievalist · 23/01/2022 11:44

@bigdecisionstomake - two crucial differences. The young men in this instance were fighting and were in charge of a car.

bigdecisionstomake · 23/01/2022 11:52

@Medievalist Ha ha, yes agreed the car thing does make a difference - the only transport these kids had were skateboards. Not sure if drunk and high in charge of a skateboard is actually an offence!

Flocon · 23/01/2022 11:55

You called them and explained the situation. It's up to the police if they bother attending or not. It's like if you go to a doctor and say your arm hurts, they decide if it needs surgery or whatever.

Original poster
Laughingstock91 · 23/01/2022 12:07

@AutumnLeaves21 err, yes. They had the doors open & were being really obvious. It was literally outside my house. I could see and hear everything they were doing as it’s terraces with no front gardens.

OP posts:
DiddyHeck · 23/01/2022 12:09

And the police just moved them on? No drug/drink driving test for the driver, no weapons/drug check for the car?

WorriedGiraffe · 23/01/2022 12:14

So you watched them with a car while most likely under the influence, watched someone be assaulted, and watched someone with drugs all outside your house, and you waited a few hours to call the none emergency number. How many crimes would you need to witness to phone 999?

The whole thing sounds a bit strange, why wouldn’t the police do more than move them on? What happened to the car? Did they let them drug drive home?

Original poster
Laughingstock91 · 23/01/2022 12:16

I was quite surprised that the police moved them on but then they did follow their car as they left so maybe they moved them elsewhere. There was a cloud of smoke coming out of the windows.

Maybe the police didn’t see it as a priority I don’t know- they weren’t local as I could hear them say they had driven here for a night out when they were arguing.

OP posts:
Original poster
Laughingstock91 · 23/01/2022 12:26

It’s interesting to read people’s replies tho- I really was worried about wasting police time and was very much ‘should i, shouldn’t I’ but clearly I might have underreacted! I was home alone with 2 kids and it was middle of the night so prob wasn’t thinking straight either!

OP posts:
Thenose · 23/01/2022 12:34

Calling the non-emergency number about anti-social behaviour and illegal substances would've been reasonable. Calling about violence, after hours of doing nothing, was unreasonable. You should've called 999 as soon as you thought someone was being assaulted. Weren't you concerned that somebody might need medical care or an escape from the situation, or that it might escalate further?

DiddyHeck · 23/01/2022 12:46

@Laughingstock91

It’s interesting to read people’s replies tho- I really was worried about wasting police time and was very much ‘should i, shouldn’t I’ but clearly I might have underreacted! I was home alone with 2 kids and it was middle of the night so prob wasn’t thinking straight either!
When your kids are older I'm sure you'd be very grateful if one of them was being assaulted and someone called the police.
RavenclawDiadem · 23/01/2022 12:49

I would have called too. We live near a school and I’ve called them in the past if there are kids / young adults getting pissed in the grounds at night. They usually send some officers over to move them on.

Policyschmolicy · 23/01/2022 12:49

As far as I see it the non emergency number is for ‘hey Police, this is happening/has happened and it might be interesting to you if you’re not too busy’ and the emergency number is for ‘hey this thing is happening right now and people are in danger’ … so you would have been reasonable to call either number tbh.

thickthighs73 · 23/01/2022 12:53

I would have called 999 after 10 mins !

abigailsnan · 23/01/2022 12:54

I would have rang 999 at 1.01am as soon as it started.

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