WIBU To call the police?

[Helpless0190]

I know myself i wasn't BU. But everyone around me seems to think I was and now I have put myself at risk.

House on the street. Couple, 5 kids. Always volatile, enough shouting and screaming that I can hear their voices carry across the road into my house.

Over the past few years there have been incidents where I have called the police. The male is arrested, she doesn't support it, not enough evidence, nfa. I have also raised safeguarding concerns more than once.

A few days ago there was another incident (on the doorstep, its always on the doorstep) and it was severe enough for me to call the police again. They attended, arrested the male, and for the first time officers went into the property.

What they found was severe enough to remove the children. I do not know all of the details but the officer told me some and it is grim.

Because of this I'm now public enemy number one to the mother, and I'm assuming her partner when he reappears from wherever he is bailed to. She has been screaming over to my house, throwing things around the garden, generally losing it.

And now my own family think I did the wrong thing and I have put myself and DD in danger. But I dont see how I was supposed to sit back and let it happen - especially with what the police uncovered.

No, that specific officer was not professional.

If a doctor did something similar you wouldn't say 'The NHS are unprofessional', you'd target it to that specific doctor.

OP you did the right thing. Your family were actually at risk before you reported it anyway.

Report her for harassment. It needs to be at least 2 reports to costitute so keep reporting and push for the neighbourhood policing team to get involved and issue her with a CPW if it continues. This then escalates to a CPN and CBO, the latter being that she can be arrested the first breach.

Yes it does, they've arrested him multiple times it sounds like.
She's not supportive so it's very hard to pursue a prosecution without the support of the victim.
And yes your username is gross.

This doesn’t make sense.

The neighbour told the police officer to go to you for a statement? Why?

and you said loads of people have reported her in the past, so why would the police automatically presume you reported?

you reported anonymously… are you saying the officer took a punt it was you and overrode your anonymity?

Try

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

Just another form of racism.

Two police officers are close relatives. The notion that an officer would sit on the OP’s sofa and disclose information, as she/he is claiming, is questionable. But ok, if it keeps the thread going I’ll bow out.

I agree

apparently loads of people have reported the woman in the past. Yet the officer assumed it was the Op despite the Op reporting it anonymously.

and then the weird fact that the woman actually told the officer to go to the Op to get a statement??

Too many people turn a blind eye, but you looked out for those children. Well done. If she harasses you, report to the police. Keep logs of everything. It’s not nice, I’ve done it a few times in personal capacity and lots of times professionally.

There are actually multiple aspects of the OP’s account that do not really stack up and I only know that as I’m the sibling of a police officer and am aware certain things they’ve written are not credible. But I know troll hunting is forbidden (and this post will likely be deleted) so I’ll say no more.

I thought from the outset too

I am directly opposite, the house that reported in the past is empty and the other side are almost as bad as them so wouldn't call the police. My statements have probably given me away too, I can see what is happening from my bedroom window which makes it obvious it's me I guess.

You did the right thing … made the right call and I wish there were more people like you in the world. Too many children die or are injured because others won’t stand up for them 💐

You did the right thing, and if more people did then maybe children wouldn't grow up in neglectful, violent homes.

I don't think you've put yourself at risk. As unpleasant as she has been, I think they both must know that if they harass you further then they're just adding to the case file for the social worker.

I am not a troll.

The woman angrily told the police she wouldn't give a statement but the woman over the road would, meaning me. She knew I had made the call to the police because of how many times in the past. When I did call I didn't give details, and by the time I had finished the call I could already hear sirens.

First police officers arrested the male. She admitted to them on bodycam what had happened. The officer told me this. The officers took him, another car arrived and went into the house with her.

By this point I wasn't watching, I was sitting with my daughter. A notification on my phone told me my doorbell cam had movement, I looked and it was an officer walking over. He stopped, looked at the cameras, walked away. Then he turned and came back. I let him in, invited him in to the sitting room and sent DD upstairs so she wouldnt have to hear anything.

He asked if I had called it in. I said yes, and i bet blank already knows doesnt she. He said yes, thats when he told me what she had said about a statement. He asked if I would give one and I said yes. I told him about previous times and the outcome and that's when he told me she needed to start helping herself and then about the state of the house. Then he radioed the station, another car had arrived, I gave a statement. The officer left me his card and left. An hour or so later the children left, the younger two in a car I hadn't seen before and the other 3 with her parents.

I dont know why people think I'm lying. I mean I have footage of the whole lot of mnhq want me to prove anything

I reported a neighbour anonymously earlier this year when domestic violence spilled onto the street.

The next day the police called me. They knew who I was despite my call being anonymous.

I don’t know how they knew it was me, but they did. I have never had any kind of interaction with the police before, either as a witness or as a criminal. But they knew who I was.

The police also disclosed some information to me about SS going into the property.

Sp unlikely as it sounds, I totally believe OP as I’ve had a similar - albeit less severe - experience.

If you are concerned for your safety call 999.

If you could already hear sirens by the time you finished the call, safe to say that at least one person had reported before you.

So I really can’t see why you can’t just 🤷‍♀️ and say / sing “it wasn’t me”

Sometimes doing the right thing may feel tough but those children needed an advocate. Just remember that. Well done. Children are rarely taken away on the spot so it must have been quite the scene for the police to do so.

I imagine the neighbour saying OP would give a statement was something more along the lines of “oh I’m sure that bitch over there will tell you all sorts!” Rather than “I recommend you go and speak to the woman across the street for a full statement.”

Just read your last comment.
Tell her you didn’t call the police but when the police came to your house and said she told them you would give a statement, you thought she was wanting you to help her by giving a statement because she was too scared or something!
Put it all back on her

Just say that the police came to get your doorbell footage and continue to deny that you gave a statement.

I believe you op. I leave near a family like this, police always called and she lets him back etc. It is a privately owned home though so I suppose not much can be done but the police have been there and neighbours have given more statements than I can dream up. I have no idea why people would think you are lying, this happens and it can happen anywhere not just bad areas. My area is lovely and this one couple just cannot seem to keep the peace.

I’m happy to be corrected, but it was my understanding that the whole point of giving a statement was so that you could potentially be called as a witness if it went to court and both the prosecution and the defence team could question you about it. So what on earth is the point of denying it? She’s just going to make herself look really silly if it gets to Court, or her statement is used in any child protection hearings. If she feels intimidated at any point, the only thing that’s going to make them back off is if she fronts it out and tells them that she did call the police and she’ll call the police and SS and the HA every single time if they don’t fuck off and leave her alone.

And even if the OP did deny it, it’s very clear that this woman would see straight through it and would never believe it. She’s an idiot but she’s very clearly an astute idiot. Of course she knows whose curtains are twitching every time there’s a row.

Also, some police officers can’t hold their water, let alone maintain confidentiality. And if they’re aren’t alluding to who has done what, they’re standing outside, yelling into their radios like there’s some invisible force field around them that means nobody can hear. So believing that the police wouldn’t do those things is very naive.

If you heard sirens before you’d even finished the call… they weren’t responding to your report @Helpless0190 . It was from someone else