Here’s the story - I’ve just bought a house in the less-nice edge of a nice neighborhood. (It’s on a busier street than most, and has more renters - but the street’s not super-busy and there aren’t that many renters, and the houses are quite nice - I didn’t buy a house in the ghetto or anything. I think I made a good investment.) Anyway, most of my neighbors are very nice but some are not so nice at all. I’m on a corner, and it’s the people catty-corner from me that have me concerned.
I had painters doing interior and exterior for a week before I moved in, so for a while they were here a lot more than I were. One of them tells my mom he kinda thinks the people across the corner might be drug dealers. I kind of pooh-poohed the notion at the time - it’s certainly not that kind of neighborhood - but now I’m not so sure. There’s a whole lot of people who seem to be living/staying there, for one thing. They’re kinda loud. There’s cars driving up at all hours of the day or night, and nobody really seems to get out of their car - they honk the horn (GRR!) or maybe call on a cel or something, because people sort of come out of the house and they talk and then the other people drive off. (I don’t watch too closely.)
Also, and here’s where I might be going off the paranoid deep end, there’s often young people (teenagers, I guess, maybe a little older - hard to tell at night) playing basketball in the intersection. Always at night, about once a week that I’ve noticed. There’s a very nice park a very short block away. Could they maybe be lookouts? They just seem kinda… suspicious. They’re not really playing very hard, and they’re not really talking and fooling around either.
So obviously, all this could be my paranoid mind, or it could be something else. I’m concerned - like I said, I just bought this house, it’s the biggest investment by far that I’ve ever made in my life! Also I’m a young woman alone in the house (i do have a security system and a dog, but it’s a small dog.) I certainly don’t want to be involved in any way, but if they are doing something illegal I want them outta my neighborhood! It’s a nice place! I don’t want to think about the woman next door with all the ferns living across the street from the criminal element any more than I want to think of me that way. Should I call the cops, tell them what I’ve noticed? Am I just being silly? If I did call, would it be garaunteed to be anonymous? What if they found out somehow? (What if they hurt my dog?!) If I do call the cops are they going to just laugh at me? Maybe they have a file or something? Am I turning into a little old lady with binoculars before my time? Advise me.
I would most definately call. Sounds like you may be on to something and if theyre doing it the way your describing then they probably arent very careful. What I mean is, if you call and the police come to check it out theres a good chance these people will slip up. I think “better safe than sorry” and “It couldnt hurt” apply well here. Give um hell!
They are guaranteed anonymous, or maybe it’s called a tip line, I’m not sure.
Call the police station and ask if they have such a service? If it exists they will tell you, then you can use it, because the situation you describe is precisely what they were designed for.
Zsofia, I don’t know what part of Carolina you’re in, but I know that some parts of the state, at least, have a program called “Silent Witness.” If your area has the same, I know that it does guarantee anonymity. Check your phone book.
Well, yeah, but are they gonna stomp over there and say “The lady across the corner says…”? I don’t care if the cops know who I am, I care if the people in the house do! I feel a little vulnerable living in an old creaky house by myself as it is; would I be putting myself in danger by reporting my suspicions to the cops?
I think you should see if you can find out if they own or rent the house. If they are renting, the owner of the property may not have any idea what is going on. Even if nothing illegal is going on, the owner may not be pleased about the multiple tenants.
In my county, I can search the property records online. This is how I learned that the owner of a house near me (where the tenants were making a lot of noise) lived in Plano, Texas. A quick internet phone number search and I didn’t hesitate calling the owner at midnight to complain (yes, I can be a complete dick).
Another house on my street was a rental, and the new tenants seems to have a garage sale about every other week. It seemed a bit odd. One day I was outside and a UPS truck pulled up. The driver knew that I had lived there for several years, and he asked what I knew about the house on the corner. I said that they were renters and had a lot of garage sales. He told me that he had a delivery for them, in fact, he’d been making a lot of deliveries to that house, but the packages were always addressed to a different name. He said he wouldn’t make the delivery that day, and report the activity to his manager. By the end of the month, the tenants were out, and the landlord had a 30 cubic yard dumpster full of trash that he had to clean out of the house.
With any luck, the house in question will be a rental and the owner will give a damn about it. Good luck.
Zsofia, the police are not in the business of jeopardizing your life or your safety. They know how to go about making an inquiry or opening an investigation, or simply bumping up surveillance in a neighborhood without revealing the identities of concerned citizens and putting them in danger. Stop freaking out and call the local police and ASK THEM if they have an anonymous tip line. WE can’t answer that, as we don’t know the jurisdiction you live in. The police are there to help you, not hurt you; you have to trust them.
Unlikely. They may say “We’ve recieved a report.” but that’s about it. They don’t want you to have trouble any more than you do.
And, I hate to bring this up, but you said there were teenagers (aka, minors) involved. In some areas suspecting illegal activity involving minors and not reporting it is itself a crime.
A girl I knew called the cops because of this, and the cops came to her house via the alley in an unmarked van and brought in some video cameras with big lenses and hung out there for a few hours. They said they had all they needed, left, and the people were arrested the week after that. The only way she would have known is she happened to be home and looking when they got busted. They never contacted her again, she didn’t have to testify or anything, and they pretty much told her thanks and they’ll never know who called when they left that day. She was actually kind of bummed because she wanted to see more of what happened.
Preferably before the shooting starts. If there is a neighborhood watch in your area, that might be the best place to start. But do try to get some official attention on this, because bullets don’t always go where they are being aimed. I also advise you to keep your dog in the house when you’re not with him if he is a barker. Some drug dealers get upset when attention is called to their movements.
South Carolinas CrimeStoppers Units
Anderson 864-260-4421
Beaufort 864-525-7171 or 1-800-525-7175
Charleston 843-554-1111 or 1-800-452-1111
Columbia 803-799-TIPS (8477)
Florence 843-667-8477
Greenville 864-467-5268 or 1-800-CRIM (2746)
Hartsville 843-332-8980
Horry 843-248-5000
Orangeburg 803-534-5005
Spartanburg 864-596-2065
Sumter 803-773-1100
IF YOUR AREA IS NOT COVERED BY ANY OF THE ABOVE NUMBERS, PLEASE CALL COLUMBIA TOLL FREE 1-888-559-TIPS (8477)