Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

We have had a real serious noise issue with our upstairs neighbor in out apartment complex...We have emailed a complaint to the office, but nothing has changed.....A thought had just occurred to me though about all of this....part of the noise issue is that he gets up at 5 AM in the morning.....He is not getting up for work, he just starts making his noises then.....He ends up leaving if he does leave, around 9 AM....The detail that i am asking about here though, is that he is always going outside to his porch and fussing with something out there....He will come home, and go immediately to his porch and bang around with something thats on the porch....this is pretty much an "addiction" with him, something is on that porch that his life is centered around....he does not go out to to sit etc, just fuss with whatever is always out there on his porch....he goes to that porch many many times during the day, even at 5 in the morning....In fact he never goes through a morning with out going to the porch..........My question is, could this be a sign of suspicious activity? Could whatever is so important to him on that porch be related to some kind of not legal activity? I used to think to myself that maybe he is fermenting cider or something LOL, I know thats legal, but i am beginning to think that maybe it is related to some sort of not legal activity? How can i approach this properly....the apartmentoffice already knows about my noise complaint, and I am about to tell them it has not stopped....How do i properly tell someone about my recent suspicions about what the deal is with he constant going out to his porch and always doing something with what ever is out there on his porch? These multiple porch trips are usually very short in duration. He just goes out there and does something quickly with whatever is out there....We have also smelled in the wee hours of the morning what we have always felt was him cooking some food....a cooking smell of some kind....Like at 4 AM etc....Have no idea what that is about either....

Could be, but there's not enough evidence to really say there is. Sometimes people just like to cook food at 4am. You can always tell the apartment complex that you think he may have something on his porch that he's not supposed to have (ie. usually you can't have a charcoal or propane grill on an apartment balcony), and if they provide him notice then can go check. He could also just be growing a garden or other doing other legitimate things out there.

I think the real issue you are having is with the noise, correct? From what you say it's not like he's blaring music, playing an instrument, or anything like that. What exactly is the noise? If your floors and walls are just thin and you can hear him walking around, vacuuming, and doing other things during the course of regular life then you're just going to have to deal with it. Apartment living entails being able to hear your neighbors, as most apartments are cheaply built without much soundproofing. That's just the way it is. Just because you can hear your neighbor doesn't mean that he's guilty of any noise violations. If it's a major issue then see if you can move to a different apartment in the complex, or else rent a house when your lease is up.

The noises are a lot more than from just living and doing mundane things....its really hard to explain reallyy.....He is always moving things in the apartment....constant drooping banging sounds....its very chronic and ongoing....just constant loud, and very loud to extremely loud bangs, many times as loud as a sonic book...(Here the NASA Space Shuttle years ago used to fly over making loud boom.....). I will probably just sent the 2nd complaint letter to the office....(Since emailing the first complaint, i have kept a written log of the noises that are louder than just normal living noises with time and dates etc) I really do not think the porch has a garden or anything like that....I just have no idea what it is out there....His life revolves around whatever it is thats for sure....

PS, I appreciate your answer, but I really do not think it could be a garden or something like that.....Ever time he comes home he goes out to the porch right away and fusses with something out there, making pretty loud noises while doing that.....And he goes out at 5 AM also....Why would he check on a garden 7 times a day starting at 5 in the morning in the dark? Again, i appreciate your answer and your attemp to help, i really do, but i just do not think it could be something like a garden....Just my humble opinion......If what is out there is legal, it surely is weird going out to check on it at 5 AM in the dark every day......I know, weird is legal, but what if its not? thats basically my concern.....Is he just strange or is something more sinister going on? I also do not want to bother the apartment office with something that is really not suspicious at all, and i certainly do not want to bother the police locally with it.....It would be great though if somehow a police officer could knock on his door, and just ask him, "OK, whats on your porch?", and go out there and see what is there.....I know, thats just fantasy land though.....That would sure solve my suspicions though

Could it be that he's a smoker and doesn't want to smoke in his apartment? Some smokers are like that, they don't mind the smell of cigarette smoke all over them, but they don't want it in their living or driving areas. He could be mad that he's a smoker and that he has to banish himself to the porch multiple times a day, and thereby is banging loud things to make himself quit. Maybe he's deaf and doesn't know that the noises he's making are so loud, since he can't hear them. Maybe the dropping noises in the apartment are him dropping weight plates because he's a habitual weight lifter.

As for seeing what is on his porch, have you ever thought about just going outside and looking up? I know you said he's above you, but in most of the apartment complexes I've ever seen, you can pretty easily see up into the porch of the people on the second or third floors, especially something as large as you seem to think it is.

If you want to complain to the office, do so either in person or by actual snail mail that is certified with a delivery confirmation. Emails are too easy to say that they were never received, but the management can't say that if you complain by either of the methods I've listed above.

I agree with DeltaV above, in that your main complaint is the noise. I also believe you probably have been living with it long enough to drive your imagination into overdrive making up things that the noises could be. More often than not (and I mean by a very large margin) it's nothing illegal and there is a rational explanation.

Nope, not that....He fusses with something out on the porch...I hear him doing it every time he goes out to the porch....Something out on the porch is so important to him, that the second he gets home, he goes out there and deals with something on the porch...many times very loudly...

Nope, not that....He fusses with something out on the porch...I hear him doing it every time he goes out to the porch....Something out on the porch is so important to him, that the second he gets home, he goes out there and deals with something on the porch...many times very loudly...

Again, the times you're talking about are indicative of a smoker. Gets home, needs a cigarette. Wakes up first thing, needs a cigarette. Multiple times throughout the day, needs a cigarette. Maybe the thing he's fussing with only bothers him when he needs a cigarette and goes out to the porch to see it.

Truthfully, I think your best route would be to go upstairs when you know he's there and just ask him to keep the noise down. Be polite, explain that the walls are thin, and you can hear everything he's doing upstairs, and it's disturbing your sleep or whatever it's doing. Ask him if he could be a bit more considerate and try to keep quiet during the odd hours of the morning and evening. Can't hurt, and would be much faster than trying to get the apartment complex management to handle it.

Get up at 4:30 am.....go outside to a place you can see him on his porch and watch what he is doing.

Or....make nice with him and tell him you hear lots of banging at 4 am and ask if there is any way he might be a little more carful in th emorning as you have a baby.

I have "peeked" yes, but its screened in, and i really can not tell at all what is there, one way or the other....If he IS making cider, I wish he would hare some with his neighbors LOL I guess he is so chronically real noisy, that I am thinking he is capable of anything.....He really is unbelievable noisy.....hours at a time he literally makes loud noises more than just routine living noises every second for hours at a time....It like he is extremely hyp-active or something.....really hard to describe...

Again, the times you're talking about are indicative of a smoker. Gets home, needs a cigarette. Wakes up first thing, needs a cigarette. Multiple times throughout the day, needs a cigarette. Maybe the thing he's fussing with only bothers him when he needs a cigarette and goes out to the porch to see it.

Truthfully, I think your best route would be to go upstairs when you know he's there and just ask him to keep the noise down. Be polite, explain that the walls are thin, and you can hear everything he's doing upstairs, and it's disturbing your sleep or whatever it's doing. Ask him if he could be a bit more considerate and try to keep quiet during the odd hours of the morning and evening. Can't hurt, and would be much faster than trying to get the apartment complex management to handle it.

But he has a ca rand drives it though.....What would he drive a car alone, not smoke in that car, then go out to the porch to smoke right after he gets home.....I just do not buy that....sorry, thanks for trying to help though......He is one strange dude thats for sure.....

But he has a ca rand drives it though.....What would he drive a car alone, not smoke in that car, then go out to the porch to smoke right after he gets home.....I just do not buy that....sorry, thanks for trying to help though......He is one strange dude thats for sure.....

Well, it's very obvious from your posts that you've made up your mind and aren't going to accept any other explanations of his behavior, so beyond you going up there to him and asking him to be quiet, I don't see why you came here to ask for help. You've discounted every single thing anyone has said, without even accepting that it COULD be a possibility.

Sorry about that, but i explained the logic of why i rejected what i rejected....A guy driving alone in his car and not smoking, then going to the porch to get a cig to me just does not make sense...Not to berate any attempts for the help, i truly appreciate it, but I just do not think a guy would drive home in his car alone, want a cig bad but not smoke in his car and wait until he gets home to go to his porch and make noises moving things on the porch to have a smoke.....I just do not think its a logical explanation.....Sorry, just how I feel.....Like a also stated earlier, he just goes out to the porch for a short time....I mean like 10 to 20 seconds to be exact.....then he comes right back in...one does not refrain from smoking driving home, and take 2 puffs on a cig for 15 seconds....I will drop the subject

PS, to quote from my initial posting on the subject....."These multiple porch trips are usually very short in duration. He just goes out there and does something quickly with whatever is out there". That being said, that would rule out having a smoke.....one does not take a couple puffs on a cig then come back in.....One is not allowed to smoke inside here, and if one did smoke outside on the porch, they would not be out there for a very short duration and come back in quickly, as i originally stated. My original comment about coming back in "quickly" rules out smoking.....

He could be taking care of baby aliens and needing to feed them several times a day! :coolgleamA:




Be Safe.

I am going to email a detailed email to the head of the drug investigations unit locally here.....I am going to ask if they can send a plains clothes officer with a drug dog and with no HT walie-talkie radio on him, to not raise any suspicions and for it to be a "stealth" operation, and have a drug dog walk buy his apartment, he's on the 2nd floor, and see if the dog alerts or not....I presume the dog could sense something on the enclosed outside porch on the 2nd floor....This would be ideal to do since just down the sidewalk from where he's at there is a dog-walker pooper scoopper pet waste disposal station where people take their dogs to many times, so someone in plain clothes walking their dog on that sidewalk would be "normal" to do...Perfect conditions for a quick drug dog walk by "stealth" style....The police can decide based on my suspicions if the walk by is warranted or not....It will be up to them. And yes, he went out to his porch for 5 seconds last night at 10:21 PM right after he got home....(I always hear the glass porch door opening and closing....)

Well, there goes my idea about them coming out with a drug dog....i doubt my suspicions would cause a warrant to be issued....See the web site story here...

Florida courts: No warrant? No police dogs at private homes | Miami Criminal Law Attorney Blog (http://www.miamicriminallawlawyer.com/2011/04/florida-courts-no-warrant-no-police-dogs-at-private-homes.shtml)

Update...I just read that drug dog warrant law site again, and that law does not apply to renters....only home owners.....there's hope yet!!

Without some specific knowledge of what he might be doing up there, and I mean SPECIFIC, the local LE agency isn't going to look into it. Again, I believe you're making something out of nothing. You've got this elaborate plan to bust him for who knows what just because he's making some strange noises at strange times of the day for very short periods of time. People are strange, you'll have to get used to that fact. Being strange or weird isn't against the law, and I'm betting almost 100% that there's a perfectly good explanation for what your'e hearing.

If the noise bothers you so much, go upstairs when you know he's home, and ask him to keep it down.

Well to me its more than just the noise....

For example, i was just lying on the couch at night.....He comes home and makes a noise that I then realized had a certain "signature" to the noise....by that I mean he makes tons of different noises, but many times the noises have the same sound and characteristic to them.....Sort of a routine to many of the noises...Well last night he made these noises that out of the many noises he makes, stood out as something that he does many times, what ever that is....And right after that noise from fusing with something, he goes out to the porch for 5 seconds and comes right back in....at 10:21 PM....I then realized that the noise inside was related to what he did on the porch.......Thats what this is all about....I know no one gets that, but there's something that he fuses with inside, and then he goes out to get or store something on the porch thats related to what he just did on the inside.....I am not just trying to get him because of the noise...thats a separate issue....I just know that some of the noises are connected to whatever he gets or stores on the porch.....And I just feel its related to something not legit....i just do. i am a rational person, and will not apologize for my suspicions....i think they are valid....probably no one else will, but thats the way it goes. It just dawned on my last Thursday that he may be doing something not legal, and the noise issue has been going on for months.....So my suspicions are not really part of the noise issue, but a branching off of it....

...add to all of that the 'cooking smell" that we smell at 3 or 4 in the morning many times.....That coupled with him storing and or getting something from his porch at all hours of the day and night, and i think i have grounds for some suspicious going on....The police can think its without merit, in which they or course do nothing and i do nothing, or they do a drug dog walk by.....if he alerts, then that a whole new chapter.

Well to me its more than just the noise....

For example, i was just lying on the couch at night.....He comes home and makes a noise that I then realized had a certain "signature" to the noise....by that I mean he makes tons of different noises, but many times the noises have the same sound and characteristic to them.....Sort of a routine to many of the noises...Well last night he made these noises that out of the many noises he makes, stood out as something that he does many times, what ever that is....And right after that noise from fusing with something, he goes out to the porch for 5 seconds and comes right back in....at 10:21 PM....I then realized that the noise inside was related to what he did on the porch.......Thats what this is all about....I know no one gets that, but there's something that he fuses with inside, and then he goes out to get or store something on the porch thats related to what he just did on the inside.....I am not just trying to get him because of the noise...thats a separate issue....I just know that some of the noises are connected to whatever he gets or stores on the porch.....And I just feel its related to something not legit....i just do. i am a rational person, and will not apologize for my suspicions....i think they are valid....probably no one else will, but thats the way it goes. It just dawned on my last Thursday that he may be doing something not legal, and the noise issue has been going on for months.....So my suspicions are not really part of the noise issue, but a branching off of it....


you MAY be a "rational person" but you can't explain/describe worth crap. if this is how you are complaining about the problems or if this is how you are explaining your situation to your local LE, I wouldn't be surprised if nothing is being done. say something worth listening to - say something meaningful or significant. "signature" doesn't mean crap, "fuses" or "fusing" (are trying to say FUSSES or FUSSING?) doesn't tell anyone anything, "noises" "storing something on the porch" going in and out of his residence doesn't mean anything... ad nauseam

you MAY be a "rational person" but you can't explain/describe worth crap. if this is how you are complaining about the problems or if this is how you are explaining your situation to your local LE, I wouldn't be surprised if nothing is being done. say something worth listening to - say something meaningful or significant. "signature" doesn't mean crap, "fuses" or "fusing" (are trying to say FUSSES or FUSSING?) doesn't tell anyone anything, "noises" "storing something on the porch" going in and out of his residence doesn't mean anything... ad nauseam

He's obsessed with this person up above and won't take into account that ANYTHING we say could be a rational explanation. He's got his mind made up and is just trying to make us see into his world. The cooking smells at 3 or 4 am for instance. OH MY GOODNESS!! Maybe he's hungry!! Heck, since I work midnights, that is when I eat!! And I'm lucky enough to live in my precinct, so sometimes I go home and MAKE MYSELF SOMETHING TO EAT!!

lolol you can cook for yourself or otherwise make something to eat, just as long as you don't do it on your porch... oh btw, if you Do decide to go criminal and if you forget a utensil or condiment or napkin, you have to wait at least 15 seconds before you go back inside to get it (or vice versa)...

Pretty much every night when I come home from work (or morning or afternoon) I take my radio out of it's holder and set it on my dresser if it doesn't need charged. As such pretty much every night it falls over on the dresser due to it's less than flat bottom and makes a signature noise. Food for thought...