Drug activity by my house - suggestions??

Floating Spots' post gave me the idea of posting here to get some suggestions from some LEO's on this subject.

I live next to a small "complex" of dwellings that's owned by what I consider to be the local slumlord. He must be getting some aid from the state to rent these to people on welfare or something, because lately, the quality of those living there has gone significantly downhill.

The woman who lives closest to me has a son, has a restraining order on her ex-husband (who was chased off by her other neighbor with a gun), recently was choked by her boyfriend (who is now in jail), and has CPS after her because all this happens in front of her kid. That pretty much gives you a character outline of the other people who inhabit the rest of the 5 dwellings.

Anyway, for the past few months, a guy in a car pulls up daily, honks his horn, Sharon comes out, an exchange (I actually saw money being exchanged once) is made, and he leaves. Obviously she is buying drugs from him. I have called the police and made them aware of the situation, even given them this guy's license plate number, and they don't really seem to care. I called them once because one of them was sitting in their car behind my property shooting up. I asked the officer what was going on and he said he'd call me - no call. I called them another time because one of the neighbors approached this dealer's car and was then dragged about 100 feet across their parking lot after what I'm guessing was a deal gone bad. I asked the police to have the officer call me and tell me what he found out - no call.

These are just a few of the things I see go on next door. I recently tried to step it up and contacted one of the detectives in the department. He has made me feel a bit more optimistic, but I don't really see any changes, and the dealer still makes his daily delivery.

Do the Police just not have time to deal with this stuff? I have a 1 year old kid and don't really want this to continue next to my house. It's weird because my fence on that side is like the line between the nice part of the neighborhood and the slums. Everything East of me is great - West is crap.

HELP!!!! Does anyone have any advice for me. I worry about being too aggressive because I don't want retaliation to come about should anyone on the "West side" find out I have been trying to shut them down.

I'm no cop, so I don't have a good solution for you, but that sounds aweful. I'm cheesed off at my neighbor right now because he doesn't remove his garbage can from the curb promptly or cut his grass often enough. What you got is a lot worse.

I hate to say it, but I'd consider moving. You can put heat on folks like that, but not without risk and you have a lot more to lose than some of them. It may not be worth it.

My plan is to not be living here for more than a few more years. It could get a lot worse in that amount of time though. Maybe I should step up my schedule a little.

.... buy a gun /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Actually, my neighbors do the same crap. There are cars pulling up all the time, 4am sometimes. Ive watched them alittle, its very obvious. Mainly, they keep to themselves,,, besides the noise. Theres really nothing you can do, if the cops wanted to, they could easlily bust them but they dont. Every person in the house has been in jail, for drugs, one shot a guy. We THINK the tried breaking into our house once.
All I can say, hopefully, they keep to themselves,,, stay alert, lock your doors, get a gun. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

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Lurker said:
I'm cheesed off at my neighbor right now because he doesn't remove his garbage can from the curb promptly or cut his grass often enough.

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There was a dumpy house here in Santa Barbara a while ago. Our city council got funding to have somebody clean it up every now and then and get rid of all of the garbage. Not fair to the poor taxpayers though; they are paying for somebody else's responsibility, IMO.

Where in SLC are you? I'm in the SLC area too (You can eMail me)

Anyhew I was watching the noon news the other day and aparently there is some Salt Lake country Community Task Force or something that is supposed to take care of this sort of thing. They said if you contact your local Sheriffs office they can hook you up.

You might also try contacting the drug taskforce directly, circumventing the Sheriffs office. More info Here

Good luck! They're building some nice homes out by where I live...

Saaby - I'm in the Murray area 200 E block of 4800 South. Thanks for the link to the site.

It's a sucky situation. I've even found myself weedwacking some of their weeds close to my property - just to make the fade into my place a little more gradual. You'd think that the guy who owns this complex would know about what's going on. If he does know and doesn't try to remedy the situation, doesn't he give authorities the right to seize the property? That would be nice - then they could bulldoze it and sell it to Ivory Homes or something. It's a nice piece of property and could probably fit 15 to 20 townhomes or small homes on it.

Ah--I'm more like 8000 WEST...

We had a drug-dealer a few houses down from mine in what is otherwise a pretty nice starter neighborhood. The neighbors called the police on them a bunch of times and eventually a bunch of cop cars pulled up one night and they entered with guns drawn. Some if not all went to jail.

When the property owner (landlord) retook posession of the house, he was horrified to find the house heavily damaged inside. He was also embarrased to have brought such losers into the neighborhood. He was real careful who he rented to after that.

In my case, the landlord could have made a difference and has made sure the problem didn't come back. Maybe the landlord in your case doesn't care about his property, but it might be worth contacting them. Maybe they would want to preserve their investment. It seems unlikely, but you never know. All they would have to do is evict the users.

Saaby - I hate to move too far West - I work by the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon. The East-West commute gets worse by the day it seems. With the prices around here, I may not be able to avoid it though - especially if I want newer construction.....

Lurker - Unfortunately, the landlord is pretty much an a-hole. He's got to be getting assistance from the state to rent to low income individuals or something, because half of these people appear to be unemployed. I've thought about setting up a camera so I can show the authourities what I have to deal with, but I don't want it to be used to prosecute them - they'd surely know where the camera was then - then comes retaliation....

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.... buy a gun

[/ QUOTE ] /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Sometimes it's quite fascinating, how well people get conditioned by the time.

@ - Maybe you should try buying/building yourself a small camera with transmitter, so that you can place it far enough from your property.

Chris

No contact may mean there is an undercover operation in progress, and those take time to do properly.

Unfortuneately, I think you'll need to wait for 1 of 2 things to happen.

1. The dealer is blown-away for screwing a buyer.
2. Assuming he is a user, hope he overdoses and dies.

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this_is_nascar said:
Unfortuneately, I think you'll need to wait for 1 of 2 things to happen.

1. The dealer is blown-away for screwing a buyer.
2. Assuming he is a user, hope he overdoses and dies.

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Aren't those just two lovely things. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif Hopefully something more productive will happen, like the neighbor getting into a drug rehab or something like that.

Hey don't blame me.....
I just know where the people are to ask.

As for your problem, ....????

In our case with this problem we used a large number of phone calls to get action and they finally moved out or were evicted after the police arrested several of them.

There is a small park about 200 yards from my home, it is posted off limits after sunset. I often drive past it at night and shine my Tigerlight through the area. Sometimes I spot people, usually 2-5 young guys hanging out. The light usually does the trick and they pack up and leave not knowing if I am an undercover cop. Of course I don't drive directly home after this so they will have time to clear the area and I don't want them to know where I live. Oh, the best part, I drive a different vehicle home from work every night so they can't come back and look for the car. I never, never approach these people because nothing good will result from an altercation. If the Sheriff's dept. drives by and sees them they run them off after a drivers license check. Law enforcement in Pensacola is great.

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Illuminatingbikr said:
[ QUOTE ]
this_is_nascar said:
Unfortuneately, I think you'll need to wait for 1 of 2 things to happen.

1. The dealer is blown-away for screwing a buyer.
2. Assuming he is a user, hope he overdoses and dies.

[/ QUOTE ]

Aren't those just two lovely things. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif Hopefully something more productive will happen, like the neighbor getting into a drug rehab or something like that.

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Sorry for the harse word, but it's reality. Drug rehabs, for the most part, don't work. There is only a very, very small percentage of folks that benefit. In the meantime, it's folks like you and I who support these *******s while they're in rehab, only to come out and go right back to it again. These people are a drain on society, a threat to our children and have no desire or right to live.

I'm not a LEO, but I did play a sheriff in a high school play years ago. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif Anyway, since I don't speak with authority, you can take my words with a grain of salt, I suppose.

It seems you are reporting suspicious circumstances as a good citizen, and it may be such actions are appreciated. However, you are requesting call backs and information regarding their follow-ups and investigation. Since you're not "the victim" in the crime nor have a need for the information, it would be pretty sloppy investigative procedure to share their information with you. Timing, and making sure all I's are dotted and T's are crossed is essential to the prosecution of such cases. What you may be viewing as non-activity could also be evidence of their undercover effectiveness.

When you call, the officers have no way of knowing your motive, whether it may be just a concerned citizen doing the proper thing, or someone with a grudge against the other party trying to get them in trouble. It may be that they appreciate your call, and don't want to break the spirit of good intentions by telling you their investigations aren't your business. Reporting suspicious circumstances doesn't make it your case.

This is a humble suggestion,but find other neighbors who share your concerns,there is strength in numbers,it's cliched,but true.Also,begin making requests for action from your local mayor,etc.I have seen many of our local communities brought back from the brink,but it's always the result of a group of neighbors who wanted change.I hope you find a peaceful solution to the problem.

Read Empath's post... again... and again. He's dead on.

My husband is a Special Investigations Detective... IOW, drugs. Make your call to the police... ONCE! give them your name, phone number and address and any license plates that you may have gathered. Then let them do their job.

I can't tell you how many nights my husband comes homr from work complaining about "well meaning" citizens who flood his voice mail with every little "suspicious" thing that happens. It is counterproductive. Investigations take time. Gathering enough evidence to put these people behind bars for a long time, takes time. We're not talking days. We're talking sometimes months... sometimes even up to a year or more. YOU may not think they are doing anything but this may be the tip of an iceberg and it's best to let it do it's thing for now because down the road, an entire operation can be taken down.

Yes, it's good to have the other neighbors call in once as well. But only if they have actually SEEN something. Not just at your prompting with stuff that YOU'VE seen. The detectives already have that information. And even though it may not be right, if you keep harrassing them, they will deliberately put it on the back burner.

Trust me... if they need information from you, they will call you. Meanwhile, just keep a pad and pen nearby and take down license plate numbers.