Neighbor keeps calling the police on us

[franzfl]

Here is the back ground. Sorry if this is long winded.

A few months ago someone on my street called Code enforcement on my next door neighbor. She had a Trailer parked in her yard with out a current tag and a large amount of trash piled up near the street. Bulk pick up day was 3 weeks away. She was cited and fixed the problem.

About a week later her German Shepard escaped her yard for the 3rd or 4th time. Two other neighbors and I returned the dog to her and asked that she please try to figure out how he was getting out. Conversation became heated between two of the parties, so I left.

She (next door neighbor) then called the police stating that the other 2 neighbors (not me) were threatening her and her dog. I told her that I did not hear them do so while I was there, but reminded her that I left when they all began to argue. She seemed ok with this.

At this point I have no reason to believe that there are any hurt feelings or problems between us.

Then last week on Thursday she parked her car in the easement of my front yard. Please note that here driveway AND garage were empty of cars. She lives alone and has one car. I ignored the issue for a few days, even though I had to park one of my cars in the street because of it. I was assuming that maybe she was having some work done on her driveway. I am married and have 3 kids and care for my father as well so we have 4 cars at the current time. On Saturday I decided to ask her to move the car. I was very polite and explained why I wanted her to move it. She FLIPPED out began yelling and cursing at me. I left wondering "what on earth just happened?"

She called the police and stated that I was threatening and harassing her. The police arrived and were very nice to me; I think they could see right off that the neighbor was out of control. They ended up asking her to move her car from my yard and told me to call back if she didn’t.

Next day (Sunday) she had not moved her car but, I did not call the police. I decided that she would move it eventually and I would just block the area when she did. The police have FAR better things to do than answer a call about parking.

However next thing I know, on Sunday afternoon the police are at my door again. This time she has called them saying that we cut or pulled down the wires to her direct TV. We did not!! Even if I had wanted to this, it would have required me jumping a 6 foot wood fence with 2 large dogs in the yard (one a German Shepard). This officer was pleasant enough but you could tell annoyed at the whole situation.

Yesterday (Tuesday) she finally moves her car to go somewhere. My daughter moves her truck from the street into the yard. Then last night at 11:30 the police are at my house AGAIN. This time she is calling them because we parked the truck "haphazardly" (it wasn’t perfectly straight??) also that she was going to have the trees trimmed and did not want to damage our truck(pretty sure this is a lie). Mind you we were parked in the EXACT same spot she had been parked in prior to leaving her house.

We (husband and I) told the officers what had been going on. They were very nice and seemed sympathetic. We said that we would move the truck even though they said we did not need to. We were legal to park where we were. They also suggested that we call code enforcement on her as she had several violations in her yard. We said that we felt that would just escalate things more and were going to just continue to ignore her.

But now I am concerned that she will keep accusing us of things or try to involve my children.

So far the officers that have responded have been very nice, except the one that was annoyed and even she was still very professional. I think the annoyed officer was at first thinking that we were picking on a poor lady on disability (that’s how she describes herself) not sure how she makes that claim when she paid 500k for her house on the water 3 years ago, drives a new Mercedes and has a 30 foot boat. I wish I was that poor.

I grew up on this street and have never had a problem before with anyone or with law enforcement ever.

What do you think I should do at this point?

[Roger Dat]

This is not uncommon just continue to act in an adult manner and try your best to avoid contact with your neighbor. As far as your police interactions we deal with this stuff all the time and we all have those "people" on our beat who do nothing but ***** whine and complain because they can. WE can usually tell whats really going on so I wouldnt be concerned about that end it.

If she continues to harass and annoy you, you may want to attempt to see if you can get a temporary order of protection against. I am sure you could request a copy of all the blotters regarding the instances the police have been to your house for problems your neighbor called in that were unfounded.

[franzfl]

thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. We are going to continue to ignore her, but i think we are also going to put up some security cameras. At least then we can disprove any other claims she has against us :(

[Kimble]

This is not uncommon just continue to act in an adult manner and try your best to avoid contact with your neighbor. As far as your police interactions we deal with this stuff all the time and we all have those "people" on our beat who do nothing but ***** whine and complain because they can. WE can usually tell whats really going on so I wouldnt be concerned about that end it.

If she continues to harass and annoy you, you may want to attempt to see if you can get a temporary order of protection against. I am sure you could request a copy of all the blotters regarding the instances the police have been to your house for problems your neighbor called in that were unfounded.

Roger is spot-on. I'd do as he recommended.

[franzfl]

One more question. I have the e-mail address of one of the Captains at the department for my district. I sent an e-mail to her several months ago after an incident on our street where a neighbor caught a man trying to flee after attempting to break into a house.

When the officer arrived a different neighbor felt he needed to be involved??? and became very upset when the officer asked him to move away and stay out of it for now. That neighbor accused the officer of all kinds of crap( don’t remember exactly what) but long story short he wrote letters, and then some other neighbors and I wrote letters to defend the officer.

We also spoke with the Captain a few times.

Should I write her an e-mail about what is going on? or would that be bothering her?

oh and now the crazy lady is in my yard taking pictures and screaming at my husband that he's going to go to jail (cursing up a blue streak).... we are still just ignoring :(

[BP348]

Should I write her an e-mail about what is going on? or would that be bothering her?

oh and now the crazy lady is in my yard taking pictures and screaming at my husband that he's going to go to jail (cursing up a blue streak).... we are still just ignoring :(

I wouldn't send an email to the Captain.

If she's on your yard that would be a good time for you to call the local PD and ask that she be removed from your property.

What is she taking pictures of?

[franzfl]

She is taking pictures of our jeep that is parked in our yard.

I checked with code and we are 100% ok to be parked there.

I did however send the e-mail to the Captain. Hope that wasn’t a bad move :(. My uncle who I thought would be out of town for a few more days got back this afternoon, since he is a retired captain and knows the one I e-mailed; he thought it would be fine to send it to her.

After speaking to another neighbor I may have found the motive behind all of this. On the other side of her property is an easement that goes from the road to the canal this is not on anyone's property and is owned by the city. She parked her van there a few weeks ago and it collapsed a storm drain. Someone called code on her for it and the city is seeking $$$ for the damage to city property. I am assuming that she thinks it was us that called.

[BJJVad]

Some good advice has been given.

All I have to add:

I remember getting paid by a neighbor to Toilet Paper another neighbors house. I was 11 or 12 at the time. To me it was quite fun getting paid to do that. Only thing was, the lady that payed me had two kids that I was best friends with. Guess she figured if I got caught it wasn't her kids getting in trouble. Owell.. Times change..

I wouldn't recommend that in this day and age...

[Roger Dat]

You may try seeing if your local department has a community police officer who handles these type of issues or events. We have a such an officer who usually handles these type of nuisance complaints as well as sets up and runs neighborhood watches etc.

[PJMurphy]

I work in a small town and we always have a few of these situations. Sounds like the woman is probably off her meds, or needs a new perscription(s).

Here is what you do to solve the problem: Are your Ready for this??

Send her flowers and apologize all over the place for any misunderstanding(s) that may have occurred. Tough advice I know but she'll be your best friend forever. Caution: She'll want to complain to you about everything knowing she has a sympathetic ear.

If you choose not to do this. Move, as it will only get worse, until she gets back on her meds of course.

[Sierra]

Start documenting what is going on for any later actions. Yes, the cops will have records of when they went out there, but they aren't going out every time.