Harassment With Fireworks

I have my own question about fireworks. My neighbors have been harassing my family lately (mainly they're a bunch of kids). Tonight, they threw Black Cats in my backyard, so I started recording the kids. In about 30 minutes I recorded them throwing firecrackers at 1)pedestrians walking on the street 2)cars passing by 3)my own cars in the driveway 4)on their neighboring houses porch and along the side of their house. Along with the video I have audio on it with them saying to each other the things that they did, and also their parents were on the porch watching at the time. I called the police and by that time the parents had left so only the kids were there, and when I talked to the officer he told me basically that the video didn't matter at all, that everything had to happen in their prescense and he had a few words with the kids and then left.

What I can't understand is if you have VIDEO AND AUDIO EVIDENCE of all this, why can't the police do anything? I've seen on the news about kids who vandalize houses while recording themselves, and get prosecuted because of the video, so why doesn't this video count?? I know past records don't count, but these kids associate with gangs and by getting away with this crime, that just adds confidence for them to commit larger crimes such as murder... maybe not that far, but it does pave the road to it.

The police can get tired of squabbles between neighbors, and being repeatedly called upon to mediate a stream of complaints like "their kids came on our lawn" or "they got a ball in our back yard while playing tennis." The police officer could have taken the videotape and viewed it, but apparently didn't wish to do so. If you so desire, you can look into filing a complaint with a police department with concurrent jurisdiction, such as the County Sheriff or State Police.

If the fireworks the kids tossed were legal, no one was hurt, and no damge was done, there may not be a whole lot the police can do about the issue ... I suppose they could write them up for littering.

If the kids were tossing illegal fireworks, then they might be able to get cited for possession of the fireworks. But on 4th of July we have a LOT of these calls and not enough time to dwell on each one - usually we either collect the remaining fireworks or tell them to put them away and then move on to the next call.

If this is part of an ongoing beef with the same neighbors, as Mr. Knowitall said, the police are going to be even less interested in getting involved.

If you really want to have something done you can try to contact the management at the police department and show them the tape. See if that will get some action.

What state do you live in?

- Carl

Alright thank you. I live in Texas. We're just getting tired of them, they've threatend us before and the mother slashed one of our cars tires but since we couldn't prove to the police that they did it there was nothing they could do. We're planning on moving into the country in about a year so we should be able to put up with them for a little while longer.

It's a sad situation, and one that is not uncommon. Unfortunately, the police and the courts can only do so much. And, like all humans, we get weary of repeat calls to the same locations.

I don't know about TX, but in CA if you were to witness a law being broken (even littering) you could sign a citizen's arrest and the police would be REQUIRED by law to accept it. They could either arrest or cite as appropriate for the offense.

In your case, if it had been me, I might have been inclined to cite the little darlings into Juvenile Court based upon your complaint - or, at least long form it to the DA with your video as evidence. I doubt that the lack of action was based on NO options available, only that the options available would have done nothing to end the conflict only send the kids to a juvenile court or hearing officer a couple months down the road. And in some places, the juvenile system is entirely dysfunctional so it may be a complete waste of time (from the officer's perspective).

The video is a good idea, and I would consider continuing it. If something does happen, you have a record and a history of bad acts, and you could always go to the administration of the agency to show them what the officers are NOT acting on.

Good luck.

- Carl