The Police have not helped me

[ApplesOnWards]

I hope someone can help.

I made a complaint against someone who had intimidated me, assaulted me and damaged my property; a police officer attended and told me they spoke to the person and the person apologised.

The matter was then completely dropped by the police and I was offered counselling. However I'm not happy with this, I want to complain as the person is escalating their behaviour with further intimidation and damage now that they've got away with everything so far!

They are very clever and it's impossible to gain actual evidence.

Can I request the recordings of the police speaking to the person, and them apologising (therefore admitting it) and can I request the statements/any more info from the police? Who should I complain to?

Any help would be so appreciated.

This person is a young male, as a single female I feel vulnerable, and I have a feeling he wouldn't be doing what he's doing if I was male or had a husband.

I wouldn’t hold your breath. One problem with the police is that they think their 6 week induction programme actually teaches them about the law.

Prize for the first person to mention their useless degree. Social and academic failures make their way to the police in order to try to force people to respect them.

What an odd response, and its 22 weeks induction.

op, I doubt they recorded it, but you can ask. If the person is continuing then report again.

Report online every single incident. Email your MP

I'm so sorry OP, I can completely empathise, especially with the feeling of how shocking it is what people can get away with without reprimand or consequence.

Me and my children were moved by our housing association to a new property last year due to the next door neighbour turning the house into a drug den/gang hideout. We've been harassed by an older female ever since moving to this new place and it is constant.

Have reported her to the police and while they have looked into it, at the end of the day there is no consequence. Especially if the perpetrator has anything that is considered to make them vulnerable.

It's so unfair. I think the only thing you can do is keep reporting and where possible recording each incident.

At our last place, nobody was interested in us there either (interested in any information we had to offer but not interested in our wellbeing). Our HA eventually moved us and I believe this was more down to a "community trigger" being invoked. Basically, if enough neighbours complain, the "hearsay" evidence has more weight to it and is taken more seriously; the police have more of a duty to look into it.

Is this an option for you? Are any other neighbours affected that could also complain alongside you?

We are isolated in our situation; ours has targeted us because we live above them and are the only people with children so we don't really have the same avenues as we did last time.

What age is the "young person"?

Report again to 101 (you can also do this online in most forces). State that you're not happy with the original resolution and want to make a complaint about how the officer handled it as well as reporting the current behaviour. Can all be done in one call or one online report.

I made a complaint against someone who had intimidated me, assaulted me and damaged my property; a police officer attended and told me they spoke to the person and the person apologised.

the person is escalating their behaviour with further intimidation and damage.

Personally i would physically go to your local police station and ask to speak to an officer and say the two paragraphs above. Keep it dead simple. The police visit has done nothing to stop the bloke harassing you and you fear another assault.

Which imaginary basis is this set upon? It's a two year programme of training and assessment for a probationer police constable with a 22 month induction.

Degrees in the police have only ever been to demonstrate you have a sufficient level of education, literacy and ability to assimilate information and extract key points. Fortunately the degree programme has failed miserably and most forces are offering good old fashioned entry levels again.

This absolutely does not sound right escalate it in complaints

The police didn't take action in one instance. But that doesn't mean they wouldn't take action for other instances. So you need to keep reporting any behaviour that you believe is criminal.

Making a complaint against the police for their actions after your previous report won't mean they can reverse their decision, and a complaint to the police won't have any impact on the behaviour of the person who is harassing you.

When you say your harasser is 'clever' and doesn't leave any evidence, what do you actually mean? Do you mean they are verbally abusing you and then denying it? Does this happen when you're on your own property?

Thanks so much for the replies, I will complain (chief of police? will they care?) and contact my local MP too.

The injustice of it is the worst thing.

And unfortunately I feel like this is officer dependent, even though it shouldn't be. The first officer I spoke to was really lovely and sympathetic, thorough and willing to share info and procedures.

The office who ended up dealing with the case was completely unsympathetic and gave off an air of feeling like the case was beneath them and not worth their time. Like they had more important things to do.

The more helpful officer advised us to try and record everything we could, as at the end of the day, without physical evidence it is your word against theirs. Can you set up a camera around whatever it is he is damaging? Get an ASB log template and complete that.

I said it in my last post but the unfortunate truth is people seem to be able to do really shitty things and not really have any lasting consequences.

No, just the regular number will do. It'll be dealt with by someone far below the Chef Constable.

Don't bother with your MP until you've at least tried to tell the police you're not happy with the outcome.

How old is this person?

What are they doing that leaves no evidence?

Sounds like your job has been ‘cuffed’ ie got rid of without doing any actual work with it. Did you give a statement, as in a statement that they took from you, which you then read and signed. If not, then you’ve not even made an official complaint. They also won’t have recorded themselves speaking to the other party.

Unfortunately @SilverDoe is correct, it’s down to the quality of the officer attending. Sounds like you’ve got a lazy bastard. Every shift has them.

Your post is wrong on multiple counts.

Report every incident online that occurs OP so that there is a record going forward.

But no, even if there was a recording which I doubt, they would not be allowed to provide it to you.

Evidence is your statement, it doesn't mean proof.

Can you get a ring door bell and pick the options that records "events" eg evidence of visits? Am not sure, depending on tje circumstances of the harrassment but I know that the presence of a camera puts a lot of people off. Worth a try and can pick up evidence too xx

There should be a Professional Standards Department. You can raise your complaint with them in writing or by phone.

(Disclaimer: I am not a police officer, but I have some knowledge of the criminal justice system).

Report every incident/interaction to the police and make a note of the reference number they give you each time. Ask for all the logs to be linked to each other to build a picture. Depending on the type of incident you are reporting and corresponding response time allocated, you will get a call and/or visit from an officer for each incident of reporting separately.

If a phone call, record and/or make contemporaneous notes. If a visit, ask them to use their body worn camera to record; the red light will flash if it’s recording. They can ‘save’ the recording and link it to a crime and/or incident, but this is a proactive thing rather than automatic, so my advice is to also take notes. Take the name, collar number and police station of any officers who call and/or visit you.

As a PP suggested, make sure they take a statement from you (an MG11) and that you sign it. They won’t give you a copy, but it will be available to you if you later give evidence in any court proceedings.

Keep phoning the OIC (officer in charge) and if you can’t get through to them, quote the relevant ref number to the call taker so your phone call is logged.

Also, gather any evidence you can. Doorbell and CCTV camera footage, call logs, messages, emails - it all builds a picture. Ask the force what file sharing platform they use that would enable you to upload your own evidence, ie do the work for them if you have to.

After you’ve been through this several times, make an official complaint to them (go to the force website to find out how, or check the IOPC website, though you need to log a complaint with the force rather than go straight to the IOPC).

The force does not want to hit the headlines for having failed a member of the public who’s been subjected to harassment and stalking and the devastating consequences

Sorry, posted too soon, but I was nearly finished!

Basically, make sure the force does its job to protect you. The squeakiest wheel often gets the oil, as the saying goes, so don’t accept “no further action”. Be firm, stay calm when speaking to the force, gather evidence, stand your ground.

Good luck!

In my experience the police fob of any complaint about them and unless a really big serious crime is involved they are absolutely useless.
My local police are more interested in posting photos of themselves at family fun days and scout events on social media than actual policing. Exactly who they think they are winning over with their charm offensive I don’t know because law abiding people will act respectfully to police officers and as for criminals well even if the pc’s were to go round and do their mum’s ironing they are always going to hate them.
I found the council community safety officer (not police) was much more helpful as was my local councillor.

police dont help people the just ruin people lives

"They are very clever and it's impossible to gain actual evidence."

So if that is the case then what do you think the police can do? Without actual evidence the other person could in fact say that you are harassing them by continually calling the police about them for 'nothing'.

My suggestion would be to find any way possible to gain video/audio/something of them intimidating you and then taking that to the police. If nothing happens after that then start to make noise.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/anti-social-behaviour-asb-case-review-also-known-as-the-community-trigger