Neighbor Shooting Pellet Gun

[Shadow 7D]

500W halogens pointed in the windows send a certain message....

 

[mgkdrgn]

The police say he needs video as proof.

Do the cops need to have video of everyone they arrest for doing anything?

Step over this guys head, and keep on stepping until you find someone that gives a rats ass. If you can't find anyone on the payrole that does, then turn to the folks that rely on votes for a living ... or perhaps your local TV station "On your side" thing.

 

[Ledgehammer]

I had a similar incident at my house. When I first moved in I was mowing the grass and my neighbors behind me were shooting pellet guns in the back yard towards my house. I think they were aiming at trees or whatever but didn't consider what was beyond the very thin tree line. I heard the pellets wizzing by my head and hit the back of my house. I ran over their immediately and told them in a firm way to stop shooting at my house. They acted ignorant of course, but I didn't have another issue after I asked them to stop. The funny thing was a cop lives right next door to them and you could hear them doing it and he didn't say a word.

 

[hgmike]

Trail cameras are a great idea along with the plexiglass. And the flood lights with motion activation.

Something sounded off to me when I first heard all this a couple years ago. My FIL being a retired LEO, recipient of the Medal of Valor (I've seen it), and the brothers in blue won't help. I think the police dept thinks he's crazy.
I have written a letter to the Chief of Police, the precinct captain, and copied Internal Affairs about their advice to get video being unreasonable.

The neighbor denies everything, we've talked to him. He says my FIL is crazy. If my brother-in-law didn't see it, we'd think he was crazy too.

 

[unwise11]

Well, get your Handgun, holster it, but openly, and tell him to stop shooting his weapon at your house, He will probably stop.
This situation is a little odd.

 

[goon]

The lack of response from the police is honestly not surprising.

 

[Hoppes Love Potion]

There are some people - some families and even some cultures - that "live by the feud". It is a difficult mindset to deal with. The incidents are often too petty to report, and there's usually a lack of evidence, even though you might be 100% certain who is doing it. To them, it's a game, a major form of entertainment, and it's how they achieve status within their family or group.

It's nothing personal, just that you are a different "tribe" living in close proximity, and so you become the focus of the game. Any retaliation that you do will be taken as a major affront that will only escalate the game.

As soon as you recognize that you're dealing with this type, you have to out-crazy them. Don't engage in any back-and-forth or veiled accusations, or threats of police action. Just make a nice, friendly threat.

In this particular case, I might do something like trot over to the fence and call my neighbor over. "I Heard you shootin' your rifle over this way. A couple slugs even hit my house". Now hand him a mashed slug from a .44. "You wanna be careful about ricochets, Neighbor. Have a good day."

This tells them, there is no game. You won't go crying to the authorities but are perfectly ready and willing to take care of the little problem yourself. This they can understand.

 

[Panzercat]

It does sound like a case of officers not wanting to bother with a headache just for a little misdemeanor charge

No, it sounds like there's no proof before guilt, or do you suddenly want to abridge innocent until proven guilty? The police need some evidence beyond heresay that the asshat neighbor was actully the one commiting the crime. The same laws that try to protect you do so for others as well.

Hell, I had a friend with a borderline psychotic neighbor actually visit said friend's house at night, destroy $500-$1000 worth of pots, then come back over the next night and make sure those pots were rendered into smaller bits. The second time they saw him, but had nothing more than heresay. The cops could only attempt to question the neighbor, who refused to answer the door. Without probable cause, they couldn't even force him to do that. They finally managed a restraining order when the guy tried to assualt my friend and his wife in broad daylight with witnesses. He wouldn't buy a gun with 2 children, but I heavily suggested a tazor at very least, which he wisely aquired.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

In a similar situation, I advised someone to set up a videocamera as audio/video feed to an 8 hour VCR videotape recorder.

 

[Kleanbore]

We've had a few constructive suggestions, but too many bad ones.