Had door kicked twice - can police do anything?

[Bepis]

My 16 year old daughter had a verbal argument with her friends (mostly 16 year old boys) and no longer spoke to them. One of them made a threat to her saying that her and her friend are going to be 'jumped'.

At this point, I didn't get involved as I stay out of her friendships and arguments unless there is some danger involved.

After she fell out with these boys, a group of about 3 came to my house and banged on the front door and ran off. This frightened my other daughter who is disabled. I made a report online to the police and got a call from them the next day. They said they can't do anything about them kicking the door but could about the threat as it's 'malicious communications'. The officer I spoke to told me to ring 999 if they came to the house again and started doing the same.

Anyway, I spoke to one of the boys involved as I knew him and had previously helped him (mental health problems) and he said they would now leave it. I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Everything was quiet for a week and then last night, around 8:20pm, there was a horrendous loud bang on the door. I could have sworn I heard glass break at the time but I couldn't find any. The whole house shook and my disabled daughter was once again traumatised. DH ran outside but they had already run off. They left a whole shoe print on the door. No damage was done to the outside of the door but they did damage something on the inside that was connected to the door.

I phoned 999 as previously advised and he took details. Still waiting to hear from them but will they actually do anything? I know that it is breaking the law but it's whether the police are likely to take further action? If not it's going to continue and escalate and I may not be able to hold my DH back next time.

I know that but as stated they aren’t the brightest sparks so probably would believe they are committing a hate crime. And that might be enough to stop them.

Considering I have it on text who did it the first time, then the same day a week later, it happens again, I think it would come across as more likely than not to be the same people. Especially considering we have had no issues here for 3 years.

www.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/sh/stalking-harassment/what-is-stalking-harassment/

If they have done it more than once it is considered harassment which is a crime.

My daughter and one of the lads used to be very good friends. From what I can gather, it was a simple falling out, no different to what other teens go through. Was about dd cancelling plans with this friend or something. Then dds friend took her phone off her and sent a voice message saying that one of the boys girlfriends was ugly. When dd got phone back, she deleted the voice message but it had already been read. Then came the threats that they were going to get beat up....then kicks to the door etc.

Not heard from police yet.

Completely agree, the police can do something but from what I know about the police and my experiences in the past, I doubt they will.

I have court applications waiting for injunctions if police don't do anything.

Didn't you see that episode of 24 Hours in Police Custody?

Ring doorbell is the best thing you can do. That way you have evidence if they return. Don’t let your husband get involved in an altercation - there have been some terrible stories of times this has gone wrong.
Once you have them captured on the doorbell the police will have all they need to act robustly.

It is incredibly frustrating- in our limited experience the police are more interested in crimes involving some people than others. We had an incredibly stressful year last year and my view of the police changed dramatically.

I know what you mean ☹️. I have completely lost my faith in them if I am honest which is why I have a back up plan with the courts for a civil case of trespass and harassment if needs be.

The Ring doorbell is a good idea. They are a very effective, relatively low cost crime deterrent.

I'd also look at getting a fake security camera fitted to a very visible part of the front of your house. You can get very realistic ones for less than £10. Any person thinking of approaching your house doesn't know if it's real or not.

For your daughter I'd be buying her a personal alarm, just in case. I'd also look at something like self defence or kick boxing classes for her. Hopefully she'll never need to defend herself but the extra confidence having a few defence skills give can be really helpful. I do kick boxing and it's also a really fun form of exercise. It might also give her an enjoyable hobby which would be better than hanging around causing trouble.

I hope the Police help get this sorted for you. It must be very distressing for you all.

I very much doubt it will make a shred of difference anyway. I had trouble with some local yobs two years ago and similar attacks. All captured on CCTV. It was very definitely associated with disability and truthfully a hate crime. The police did sweet FA.

My son and son-in-law sorted it.

Looking back we were incredibly naive and wish we had have done more research ourselves and pushed harder. In our experience they did not even interview a witness until we had made a formal complaint.

@Quveas That is awful, makes you wonder what the purpose of the police is! Can I ask how you sorted it? Understand if you don't want to share on here.

I've barricaded our gates to make it more difficult for them to get access to the front door.

It has since come to light that these boys she was hanging around with did things like go on peoples gardens and steal items, throw snowballs at windows, push shopping trolleys off buildings etc*

@Bepis before you involve the police you better be certain that your daughter hasn't been involved else you could open a can of worms. Birds of a feather...

Not saying she is but it's a possibility

@mnchat If she was involved then the police can come down on her too. I'd be disgusted if she was involved in doing any of that.

@Bepis good to hear it. Hopefully she hasn't though

@Bepis fingers crossed the police sort this out for you

But you have only an a assumption for the second time - you haven't witnessed it. It will only be circumstantial evidence which is not enough to accuse someone enough to prove the offence unfortunately.

@Felix125 Hopefully they can use the footprint and match it up with one of the people suspected, although I pretty much doubt they will go to that extent.

Our ring doorbell is now installed so if it happens again, it should catch them and provide evidence for any further action. My hope is that it will just deter them and stop them which is all I want really.

They do. But if the husband grabs them he could be charged with assault.

Trying to kick down the door of the home of a disabled child sounds like a hate crime to me. Shame I’m not a lawyer or the police.

@EL0ISE Exactly, which is why I don't want him to do anything like that. If they attacked him first or something then that's different but I don't want him going looking for them. He was just angry, he's calmed down now.

I'm not sure if it would be considered a hate crime because they aren't doing it because my eldest is disabled. The target is my youngest daughter because they all fell out.

Would anyone recommend texting the boy who I texted before asking who kicked my door? He usually admits things pretty quickly.

There’s also the risk that some little idiot is carrying a knife ‘for protection’. I’ve seen a few sad cases where these teens end up using it, when they really didn’t plan to buy a situation got heated. Aside from the risk of being done for assault, there’s a safety risk in the husband getting hold of them.

Good luck OP. Horrible situation for you but you are taking all the right steps, and hopefully the doorbell camera will deter them.

I don’t think I’d text the boy. I wouldn’t want to inflame things any further.
Did you know him previously?