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.

@Findyourneutralspace Daughter has told me that one of them carries a little pen knife type thing on him. She also said he has ordered knuckle dusters and gloves with spikes on them off the internet for 'self defence'.

Yes I did, I helped him a lot with his mental health and supported him through his difficult moments of wanting to self harm.

Exactly. Do NOT let your husband grab one of them, no matter how tempting. For a start, he might lose his temper and hurt him, which would mean a prison sentence. Or the boy might lash out and knock your husband to the ground. Even a 14-year-old can knock out an adult. If that happens, and his friends are there, they might kick your husband in the head while he's on the floor. It happens all the time. Violence is completely unpredictable. And everyone is vulnerable. When arms and legs are swinging wildly, anyone can be caught. And even if your husband DOES clip the boy round the ear and send him on his way (like a dad in a 1950s film), an hour later you might get a knock on the door and find yourself confronted by his angry 6 foot dad, or his older brother wielding a knife.

If these boys are from 'problem families', my advice would be to stay away. Just lay low. There is a limit to what the police can do. I have known people literally driven to suicide by the vermin next door. Once you are on their radar, and they've made you a target, god help you. Tormenting people is sport to them – it's fun. Right now, we've got a problem with cretinous teenagers driving around at night with exhausts like canons on the backs of their cars. They wake people up at all hours and are driving us all insane. But the police do nothing. Boys like that don't think about consequences. They just act. They have no moral compass either.

Of course, I'm assuming they are from that sort of family. If they're not, and the parents are reasonable, civlized people, try talking to them rather than the boys.

@JoonT You are completely right, I don't want DH confronting them. He's not scared or worried but like you say, anything can happen.

I don't really know their families but my daughter said one of the parents is an alcoholic who has scratched and hurt the boy. Another one is emotionally abused by the father.

Police just phoned. Not going to do anything at this stage. Didn't really expect any less.

Unfortunately I’ve had a few experiences with the police recently and it doesn’t surprise me. It seems unless you can give them solid evidence (like video footage) they can’t or don’t really do much.
I hope it blows over soon for you and your family.

It would seem that way. We had a solid full footprint on the door but they weren't even bothered looking at that. They could have compared it to 3 of the suspects shoes and then found out who did it 🤷🏻‍♀️. But I guess it's pretty low level for them compared to what they deal with.

If it happens again and we get video footage, I think I'm just going to apply straight to court for an injunction because trying to get the police to do anything is like trying to get blood out of a stone.

Glad you got the doorbell sorted. My next advice is do not call the police unless it's an emergency, report online instead. Everything reported online is reference numbered where as when you call they don't always do that. Found out the hard way when exh escalated things.

the shoe print thing - you need a suspect first before you can start comparing prints.

Also, the print on the door will only show you its a Nike shoe size 9 for example - it won't pin point a suspect. Most shoe manufacturers mix and match he uppers and lowers on trainers. It will just return a result of Nike size 9 used on the following listed shoes/trainers.

The only way you can use foot wear marks is to send the print away for forensic examination once you have the matching shoe. They can then look at the wear marks, cuts and abrasion marks on the print and compare it to the shoe in question. But for that you need the print to be a perfect impression which you can only get if the person has stood on something to leave the mark (laminate flooring which has a layer of dust). It they have kicked the door it won't be a good impression and it will be smudged on the grips.

There is also a cost implication in sending stuff to forensics

Caught them doing it again but daughter doesn't recognise who it is. Looks like they may be getting their wider circle of friends to do things.

That is so awful. Such a shame you can't identify them. I am sure you have reported it. Could they go to the same school? The neighbourhood police might recognise the image or the school might.

Just came back and threw something at the house. DH gone looking for them.

Utter twats. Do you have a local facebook group you can put the photo on? I bet someone local can identify this kid.

I would seal your letterbox OP just in case they put something flammable through it

Can you send this to the police?

The police are fucking useless but at least you have video evidence it's harder for them to do fuck all.

Posted it on our local Facebook page to see if anyone can ID him. DH went for a walk around the estate and saw the group of kids - about 12 of them. As soon as they saw DH, they all ran off.

A young lad just walked past our house and when our light when on, he put his head down as it to shield his identity. I think he might have been checking to see if anyone was outside.

We have one of those letterbox things that you turn and it seals it shut so will be doing that each night.

@purpleboy I will be sending it to the police. They might know who it is if they are local trouble causers.

Local PCSO's or Street Wardens might be able to ID them

My son did something similar once, a few years ago. Not quite as bad as you're getting but things escalated over a period of some weeks from knock and run and being chased by the householder, until eventually he threw something at a window, which broke, with the household occupants in the same room.
The police were on it straight away. They knew who the local troublemakers were and rounded them all up. Ds told them he was at home so it couldn't have been him. I put them straight as I wasn't going to lie to cover his sorry ass. There is every chance that the parents of your troublemakers would do the same - we're not all useless and myself and the other troublemakers' parents were all trying our best with our bloody difficult kids. Only one tried a cover up, the rest of us were honest.
The outcome was a community resolution - I paid for the damage. The police also advised the victim's household not to visibly react in similar circumstances as that made it more fun for the kids. I'd suggest that your DH doesn't give chase, and make sure your DD isn't reacting or posting about it on SM. Just report to the police straight away.
FWIW my ds eventually grew up to be a mostly decent young man who is now in his 20s. He says they did it because it was fun when the householder chased them as they knew he'd never catch them in the dark, but says, "I very nearly shat myself" when the object went through the window as he thought it was double glazed and wouldn't break. It wasn't and it did. He did learn a few lessons that night.

Found out who it is, lives not too far away from us but apparently they are a rough family. He is involved with the lads that my dd fell out with.

Great. Who identified him?
Tell the police that it escalating and you can identify the latest suspect

Oh bloody hell, how scary for you all. Little shits!

But they didn't? Don't encourage OP to lie.

This is awful op. We had similar with a neighbour earlier in the year. He was threatening us as police did a raid on his house and he thought we reported him. (We didn't) they kicked our door put nasty letters through our box and dead fish, threatened us all the time whenever they saw us. I was trying to ignore it as didn't want it to escalate my DH is disabled he has autism so was getting very upset and wanted to retaliate DH was 10 years older than the neighbours but again I didn't want to add fuel to the fire. In the end we went police route and reported the threats with a lot of evidence. They weren't bothered the one police lady who actually came out told me the family is known to police and are to much of a pain to prosecute and just suggested moving. In the end we did move, the final straw was them stood outside my door saying ”I'm gonna shut that baby up forever” when my DS was a 2 day old baby. Horrible horrible people. I really hope they stop harassing you and your family.