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?


Mrs.Echo6

burning bag of dogshit on the porch.

No, in all seriousness, that is a terrible situation to be in.  I'm not sure what I would do in your situation, but it seems like you have done everything you can up to this point.  I'm glad that I have good neighbors

You have what we call an OBS around here.  It is short for observation case which is a the PC way to say nutbag on the radio.  The police will most likely flag her address in the computer for when any calls come from her.  They will still respond, but they will know they are dealing with a possibly unstable person.

Good luck and watch yourself around her.

If the tree is overhanging your yard, make her cut it down, and erect an 8 foot privacy fence with video surveillance to keep her from accessing the yard.

file a harassment complaint- documentation will be best.

I recommend a security camera to film her activties.

It is one thing to claim you did something, but for the police if you can provide electronic proof that you were in your home and did not walk to her yard it will discredit her.

Max

Do your best to be observed and heard being friendly and chatty with the police.

Document everything so that if you ever have to get a lawyer involved you are covered.

Personally I'd install a survalence camera and take pictures of anything that she did that is not in code.

Ahhh the gudge fence.... like a fart in a windstorm it shall go.

Yes, documentation would have been good.  Next time, take pictures or video...lots of pictures and video of her parking on your property.  I can't believe she parks on your property.  What kind of shitbag would park on someone else's property, and then call the police once you block her from doing it further?  She is the one harassing, not you.

This seems like a good move.


Cover Your Ass  comes to mind.

I'm just glad the when the knock came on the door last night at almost midnight, I decided to go to the door w/ Kel-Tec in pocket rather than Glock in hand

On the parking issue, I plan on sometime this week purchasing a LARGE "decorative" Piece of Coral rock and placing it just on our side of the property line. That way my daughter can still park in the yard, but crazy neighbor lady can no longer park across the property line.

Really buggs me on a fundimential level having a neighbor that we are on the outs with. We have done NOTHING other than be nice to this lady, including defending her with some of the other neighbors.
No one on the street now has anything positive to say about her.
Also sucks that with all the FLPD guys I know and am friendly with, none of them seem to work in the district where we live :(

echo6

This is why I live in the country. My closest neighbor is 3/4 mile down the road.

If I want to park a trailer on my front lawn with old couches, nobody will complain.
If I don't feel like mowing my grass every week, nobody will complain.
If I want to walk around in my boxer shorts and take piss behind the barn, nobody will complain.

Of course, I am an anti social bastard and tend to dislike dealing with most people so what works for me may not work for you.

Move to the country.

Call code enforcement, if you can have enough citations issued an can show where the law enforcement have been called, you could have a restraining order filed against her (from trespassing or preventing access to property).





If that doesn't work, put a benadryl or 2 in a nice cut of sirloin or 2 and toss it over the fence..

Installing a security camera is smart and not that difficult, just get a video cam and duck tape it to the roof of your house.

Or you could move out. (if is the case move next to me in the mountains, my neighbors just moved out and they had a daughter who played with my kids)

Perhaps you can ask them to have a quiet word with the guys who do work in your district.

As for the rest, I wouldn't have any other contact with the neighbor.  If her dog gets out, it goes to AC/municipal shelter.  If she parks on your property, the car gets towed after you cut the grass and cover it with lawn clippings.  If she has "code violations", document and report them.

You tried playing nice, it didn't work.  Time to play hardball.

Sorry but it is only going to get worse.

I can see a restraining order in your future, and you will be better off if you file for it first.

Maybe tell her you aren't the one who called and got her cited for the code violation, further you refused to call when the police suggested it.  She probably thinks it was you.

Other than her parking on your lot, I'd more or less continue to ignore her.  If she parks on your property, have her car towed, or tell her to move it or it will be towed.

dude you better set-up some cameras, because crazy people like her will do something to your house etc.

Molotov cocktails.

This will be an unpopular answer:



Invite her over for dinner.  Show you're not an enemy.



Then if she keeps up her shitty behavior, you know she's mentally ill and proceed from there with documentation, etc.

This.  If that doesn't work, put a snake in her mailbox.

 

This, except for playing hardball.

Place the corral. Take photos, put in motion lights.

I had shit like this for 30 years, from a dozen different idiots, mostly in the same 2 houses, tried everything, and the only way it ended was when I moved away.

One day, they will choose between good and evil, and the evil ones will be shot to death. Untill then, don't make the same mistake as Lot.

Open Carry....  seriously.

Diplomacy has failed.

Time for shock and awe.

document it all in a notebook, if the time comes, you may be too upset to recall actual facts and end up looking crazy yourself while describing the facts.

Sad to say at this point I employ the scorched earth tactics.  Not saying it's the best idea, it's just where I go when out of options.

Bad neighbors are a real curse.

you know what you need to do...

Ouch - but who will put it in and can you be sure it will be her and not the mailman getting the business end of that critter?

I already have the motion lights and am currently investigating camera systems.

I also keep telling myself that it isn't important to do the Christian thing when it is easy. Its important to do the Christian thing when it is hard.

echo6

And FWIW the officers that were here last night say that she claims to have video of one of us pulling the wires out of her dish.
My reply was I'd like to see the video.

Me too buddy - that's slander.  Don't let that go on too long.

Bwahahahaa its probably a video of her wearing a mask made from a blown up photo of your face tearing out the wires.

This.  Also, NEVER, NEVER, EVER go over to speak with her again BY YOURSELF.  You'd just be asking for a major accusation of something that you don't want to be accused of.  

Crazy people are....well....crazy, and bear watching CLOSELY!!!

Sorry you're having problems...

im sorry OP but your post count is too high and your join date is not recent enough to post a story like this.



seriously, get a camera or move.

Moving isn't an option. The cameras will be ordered today.

What would Milton do?

My girlfriends dad and their neighbor don't get along, the neighbor actually parks a big ass white construction van right at the end of his driveway on purpose because the road kind of curves where his driveway is and when he does that, you can't see shit when you pull out of the driveway without actually pulling partially into the road because the big ass van blocks your view of what is coming down the road on your left.  You just have to kind of pull out and hope there is no cars coming.  I swear to god if I would have hit someone, I would have (coc violation).

There is an excellent post in the survival forum about surveillance cameras.

Bill Oddie tore out her Satellite wires??  
 First speeding in Japan, and now this.

Neighborhood coalition.

Then burn her house down.

Restraining order

I gotta agree with good documentation. Times, dates, what officers knocked on your door, how long they were there, what they said, etc.

When you put the camera in make sure you put it in when she is not home and disguise it or put it in a place where she can't get it.

Your neighbor lady is obviously bat shit crazy, so use that to your advantage.

Get yourself a cheap WOK or old satellite dish and dress it up so that it looks like a listening device.  Add some sort of "element" to the center (an aquarium heater with the glass removed would work nicely).  Attach some thick cable, or even black garden hose to the back and mount it to your house or tree so that it faces her bedroom.

Make sure she sees you fiddling with it and re-aiming it a few times (wearing stereo headphones while doing this will heighten the effect).

After the initial work of making your "device" all you have to do is sit back and watch her screw herself into the ground.

I'd say continue to do as you are. Remain polite to LEO when they show up. The cops I am sure see right through this and are probably dealing with many situations just like this. I REALLY wouldn't worry about things that happened yet that solves nothing and is a bad road to go down.

Take on each issue as it comes and continue to do it as you are doing now. Firm, polite, factual. You may want to write stuff down and make sure you take pictures if necessary to capture moments that you think may escalate. Like the fence, her car parked on easement stuff like that.

Do it like my Uncle did about 10 years back; he had a neighbor across the street who was a real asshole, and had done some rather stupid stuff... so my Uncle put up a sign in his yard, which stated: "TURN BACK NOW BEFORE REGRET" ... I LOLed first time I saw it.

Moving is surrender to insanity.  So how many times will you all move before you decide to make a stand?

Had 2 crack heads living beneath me.  You can imagine the rest.  I was credits away from a degree after 6 long years of self-funded night school.  I had a gun, but figured I'd end up in jail, so I bought a huge can of FoxLabs or something (a fogger) and an aluminum baseball bat.  Black painted them both and just waited . . . .

Sounds like an old fashioned beat down is required at this point