Calling the police to check on a crying baby

[summermumma2021]

Just had to call the police to check on a new neighbours baby. What would
you have done in this situation?
New neighbours live down our road around 100m away from us and could hear loud very distressed crying for over half an hour.

It sounded like a newborn or young baby crying and so I assumed they’d settle or some attempt to comfort them would be made but the crying stayed at the same level for ther period time. I could also hear raised voices and car doors slamming and I asked my husband if he’d heard it too (he was downstairs) and he said yeah he was worried as well.

Anyway in hoping it was nothing and the little one is fine but it just didn’t sit right and it sounded like no attempt to comfort them was being made at all.

i have no idea who the new neighbours are as it’s quite far from our bit of the road but for it to be that loud from this distance didn’t seem right. I have also had three colicky babies so I do know babies can cry for periods of time but as I said it sounded like no attempt to help them was being made.

Anyway police treating it as a priority case and checking things out. Just wanted to share really as worried.

Wow it’s still rumbling on. I think you’re on a hiding to nothing here. In case anyone’s bothered there’s something in child protection world called The Paramountcy principle ( although I’m not sure I can spell it ) - it means The Child’s Welfare is Paramount. All the different departments within the police and all the relevant agencies must put the welfare of child above all other considerations. Even the Anti terrorism branch must put aside their core work if there is any suspicion of child abuse or danger to a child. Thats how important it is. Child protection officers work closely with other agencies and they share information all the time - it’s like putting a jigsaw together. All those snippets of information add up. The public don’t have to be sure they just have to suspect and the agencies will put their heads together and take a view. They hold the responsibility because they are the experts. If the police thought the OPs call was crap they wouldn’t go or they would go slow time. They wouldn’t tootle along to that while a murder was being committed.

Finally, abuse happens in all communities. Sometimes there’s a particular type of abuse favoured but it cuts across all demographics. I worked in one of the most expensive boroughs in London ( probably the U.K.) and abuse existed. My office dealt with… a step child living in a garage while the other children lived in a house, a physical abuse of a toddler with a knife by someone with diplomatic immunity, FGM also by someone with immunity. Sexual abuse of a child who had been left in the care of a housekeeper. And so it goes on.

I don’t know what the OP heard but there’s no criticism of people who act in good faith when the wellbeing of a child is concerned.

One of the worst “jobs” my husband had to do was take a 6 year old boy around a city looking for the “white” house a group of men had raped him in on numerous occasions. It nearly broke him.

But “colic” eh? Don’t phone in case you embarrass someone.

Double post

What is the relevance of that? Did the boy cry for 30 minutes and nobody reported it?
I have actually phoned the police on a couple of occasions btw but it was more than "raised voices" or just a baby crying for 30 minutes. While they did come eventually and made arrests, they certainly weren't that quick.

Hyperbole

Is that your word of the day 😂

Well done OP. Too many people disregard children in distress,citing it isnt their business

@summermumma2021The votes so far show you did exactly the right thing. Ignore the criticism.

Why do you keep repeating the same word?

That was the first time I said it.

Absolutely agree! If ever I’ve referred a family to social services or reported a concern about something to the police, I’ve never needed validation from others for my decision even when the police argue back about why they are not getting involved. You make a decision to do something you own it, I feel as clearly nothing happened, OP is feeling a big guilty for the additional stress it has placed on this family who likely now feel they are being judged by their neighbours and are on the radar of the police/social services.

it is just as likely that the door slamming was caused by the breeze open windows create, the car doors could have been another neighbour or visitors elsewhere. By all means be curious and have an eye for suspicion but could have been avoided by just taking a stroll down the road first.

She didn't ask if she did the right thing, only that she wanted to share because she was worried.

Actually OP asked what others would have done in this situation, is this not them seeking validation to see if everyone else agrees, which then makes them feel justified in their decision to call the police?

Agree completely.

Precisely. A baby crying for 30 minutes is an everyday occurrence.
And just think how the parents must now feel, terrified that neighbours are listening to them and will report them if their baby cries. It's dystopian.

Disagree. MUCH harm would have been done to that poor family. And all because a baby cried for a perfectly normal amount of time. It's shameful.

Agreed. The police were called on us for having some cross words when my husband was being a dick 3 days after my mother died. It made a devastating situation so much worse, and the police were so embarrassed to have been called. Personally I think OP is just a bored, nosy bitch.

The only people who should be embarrassed in this scenario are you two . Arguing so loudly that a neighbour calls the police? And you have the temerity to complain ?

Nice misogynist insult there.

I do appreciate not wanting to go knock on the door OP, but why on earth didn’t you or your husband at least go walk past the house, which may well have given you a bit more insight? Maybe you could hear it so clearly because they had the baby outside trying to cool them down? Maybe you’d have been able to hear them comforting or see them walking round bouncing the poor love?

Jumping straight into calling the police is extreme in the circumstances of ‘baby cries for half an hour on one occasion on very hot day’.

As someone who has been in an abusive relationship and prayed for her neighbours to ring the police (but never did), you are extremely lucky to have neighbours who care

People are allowed to have cross words occasionally. I'm not talking about abuse...but raised voices between two adults? Some people are just busy bodies. I'm sure there are plenty of abused women who are too terrified to raise their voice at their husband... should we call the police if we don't hear raised voices just in case?

Shouting may or may not be abuse.
Silence may or may not be abuse.
What is your suggestion if it’s not callling the police to check.
Saying we shouldn’t so do because we don’t when we hear silence is a really weak argument.

It was 2 mins of arguing. The neighbour in question was just a deeply bored busy body. It was pathetic. The police were so embarrassed.