To feel concerned at seeing a neighbour being taken in police van...

[ThatBreezyRaven]

Just went out to walk the dog and saw a police van parked a couple of doors down, opposite side of road. Two police officers were coming out of the house carrying clear plastic bags with items inside. I couldn't see what was in the bags. The police officers were wearing blue plastic gloves. A man was coming with them out of the house. I don't think he was handcuffed and didn't seem to be resisting - and he was going into the back of the police van, where one of the policeman was accompanying him.

I WFH alone and now feel uneasy. We have young teenagers who will be home from school later. I don't know if anyone else is still in the house where the police were, or what the arrest - if it was an arrest - was about.

YABU - it's none of your business and not necessarily for you to worry about

YANBU - you're right to feel uneasy, you don't know what has happened in very close proximity to your family home

Wow, what a prejudiced and judgmental comment

That happens around here all the time. Twice this week infact. (A man got taken away then he returned and his wife got taken away for beating him) But it's usually drug related. It used to worry me but sadly I'm used to it. I also hate it and am desperately trying to move.

The thing is tge time that could have been iffy if BEFORE the Police arrived. When whatever the guy was arrested for was happening.

I get you’re uneasy now that you know something was going on, but surely now you’re actually safer?

A few years ago there was a whole spate of innocent people getting a police knock because of the combined incompetence of the police and an ISP meant that the timestamps on the IP address allocation they were using to target real addresses were an hour out.

Mind you, a couple of years ago, someone in our road was caught with an assault rifle (right wing extremist) and ended up doing a "10-stretch" as I believe they are called. And I didn't see that police operation despite WFH.

If it's your first time seeing this sort of thing I can understand why you'd be concerned, but honestly, the vast majority of people arrested aren't a direct threat to strangers. He could have been assaulting his partner (which is obviously bad, but no reason for you to worry about yours or your children's safety). It could be drugs offences or shoplifting, or even an online offence like insulting someone on social media. I used to live in an extremely rough area... at one point there was a police car parked permanently outside our block of flats for months due to the amount of knife crime, but even then it usually only affected people who were involved in it, me and my mum never had any problems at all. And, living in more middle class areas, twice in two different places I've seen the police raid one of our neighbours and arrest their adult son. No idea what for, but nothing that affected us. Honestly, things like this happen all the time, everywhere you go. I wouldn't worry too much about it (although personally I'd be very curious to find out the details 😬)

Gahh it feels so unfair how much people get slammed for curiosity these days

I think it's more where that curiousity is directed.

If people directed 1/100th the curiosity shown here to asking things like "Where is all our tax money going ?" and "What are my local council up to" then maybe we'd need less police.

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I think the comment rubbernecking disgused as concern is really unfair.

If someone is arrested right by where you live, it could be anything and it's pretty normal for people faced with uncertainty to start catastrophising.

He could be a sex offender looking a child porn - he's had potential access to our kids.

He could be a killer bodies under the patio Fred West type.

He could be violent thug on and on.

Curiosity in this situation is perfectly normal. You might want to know because it might actually affect you.

Even if he's been arrested, he may be out on bail. who knows.

This doesn't follow. If they found loads of child porn for example on a computer that is just downloaded but not created by the person arrested, they will probably get bail and there won't be any police presence.
You have a person who may very well be a sex offender right next door.

It all depends on what the charges are.

It's got nothing to do with you or your young teenagers. They could be walking past undetected crims any day of the week. This one has been dealt with. I totally get the inclination to speculate/dramatise/goss but it's not a real concern.

I was taken in a police van once.

They kindly gave me a life the the station to see if I could pick the chap who assaulted me from a line up and dropped me home afterwards.

Not sure if this would happen now or if they aren’t allowed/dont have the time to do it.

Also to add - career criminals rarely do crime in oen neighbourhood...

That is a misleading statistic, although I see the Free Speech Union is quoting it. That figure includes arrests for inciting violence, inciting terrorism, online threats and abuse, including unwanted communications via email and even, in some cases, abusive letters. Only around 2.5% of these arrests lead to the suspect being charged. And the reason for the massive increase in arrests is that the police are obliged to investigate every social media post that is reported, and the number of such reports doubled from 2017 to 2022, although it appears to have levelled out a bit since then.

You just want to know what's happened

Could be anything and it's none of your business.

😂

If he wasn't handcuffed I'd imagine its more down the immediate threat to life/removed for his own safety kinda thing?

I wouldn't be worried. He's lived beside you prior to this and caused no issues why would that change now he's been arrested.

If he is a dangerous person it should be safer now he is not in.

I used to live in a flat and a neighbour about 2 floors about us (it was a converted Victorian terrace) was arrested twice for being abusive to his partner. It never occurred to me to be worried for my own safety.

I can understand you feeling that this is jarring but I think YABU

It's pretty standard practice to check crime rates when you're looking into areas to move to.
I didn't say I'm panicking or planning to move, but that I feel a sense of concern and unease at not knowing if/what has been going on very close by.

Not entirely sure how you can be worried for your own safety unless he's a neighbourhood serial killer in which case he's unlikely to be released from custody. But the chances of serial killer just casually wandering out of his house without being handcuffed are very unlikely.

There are many, many reasons he has been taken away by the police but I can't really think of any that would have any impact on you working from home or your teenage children.

YABU.

You find out about this guy, then what about the people further down the road you don’t know about,

honestly, get on with your day and don’t let it worry you.

I feel a sense of concern and unease at not knowing if/what has been going on very close by.

What exactly would this neighbour have had to have been doing for you to be concerned for your own safety?

We have had one neighbour arrested for DV (twice) and another house was searched for drugs (we actually live in a very nice, rural area even though it sounds dodgy). In my old road a neighbour was dragged out of his house by police in the middle of the night and we never found out why. Yes of course curtains are twitching, but whether it's drugs, DV, underage porn, theft, masterminding human trafficking or county lines drug circles or even murder, it's extremely unlikely to affect you as a random neighbour. Especially once they've been arrested!

Do you really know any more or less than you did yesterday?