Dealing with homophobia

supermassive

fairy_lights wrote: »

He took the door off your car :eek:
That's not normal behaviour for someone who's put out by parking arrangements, that's total derangement.
Why did the police not charge him for that?

He turned off the neighbourhood watch cctv for the time period he did it.

Just makes me wonder, if he does plan a physical attack on me, will the cameras magically be switched off at the time, too?

j.e.j.

supermassive wrote: »

He turned off the neighbourhood watch cctv for the time period he did it.

Just makes me wonder, if he does plan a physical attack on me, will the cameras magically be switched off at the time, too?

Do the Police know that a person threatening to kill another resident is able to switch on/off the neighbourhood cctv?

supermassive

j.e.j. wrote: »

Do the Police know that a person threatening to kill another resident is able to switch on/off the neighbourhood cctv?

Yes they do, although they have to take his word for it that the CCTV "resets" at that time every week.

theoretica

j.e.j. wrote: »

Do the Police know that a person threatening to kill another resident is able to switch on/off the neighbourhood cctv?

Very pertinent - how does your neighbourhood watch organise itself and how do you go about changing who has camera access?

I suggest you do as the police instructed and call 999 next time you feel truly threatened, whenever that is. If it happens to be over Christmas do be aware you are making the police's Christmas harder as well as his.

supermassive

theoretica wrote: »

Very pertinent - how does your neighbourhood watch organise itself and how do you go about changing who has camera access?

I suggest you do as the police instructed and call 999 next time you feel truly threatened, whenever that is. If it happens to be over Christmas do be aware you are making the police's Christmas harder as well as his.

Neighbourhood watch consists of 5 households that are in cahoots with eachother, basically spying on all the other residents to cover up their own criminal activity. It's switched off when they do their drug deals and it's switched off when they work illegally on the public highway.

Guest101

supermassive wrote: »

Neighbourhood watch consists of 5 households that are in cahoots with eachother, basically spying on all the other residents to cover up their own criminal activity. It's switched off when they do their drug deals and it's switched off when they work illegally on the public highway.

So set up your own camera which covers the street.

You have literally as much right to video as they do. The same that each and every person has.

Yorkie1

supermassive wrote: »

But will definitely be kept in for 24 hours if I call 999 and am at risk.

No, not necessarily.

fairy_lights wrote: »

He took the door off your car :eek:
That's not normal behaviour for someone who's put out by parking arrangements, that's total derangement.
Why did the police not charge him for that?

As another poster has already said, sufficient evidence is needed and may have been missing.

purpleshoes_2

supermassive wrote: »

I can't find out who his landlord is, or he'd be out by now.

I've got a log book the police provided me with. They have said that because there have been so many incidents reported, if he is reported and I'm in a situation where I'm at risk due to his actions, I MUST call 999 & he WILL be arrested due to the severity of the threats made and previous actions that've alluded to him being physically aggressive (he attempted to kick my door in when he knew I was home).

So I've already gone down that route. I've called 101 lots of times to get the crime numbers. It's all been done.

I'm at the end of my tether now because nothing seems to get done when it's reported to 101. I've called 999 a number of times when the incidents have escalated and they've had to do a risk assessment, told me to go to a room in my house where I was safe and lock all doors. They came out quite quickly but there had technically been no crime committed. Yet.

However, because of all this, it adds up, as the FRO told me, and he can likely be charged. But will definitely be kept in for 24 hours if I call 999 and am at risk.

I was physically assaulted by the teenage son of a neighbour a few months ago and went to police who sent me away calling it a neighbour dispute, the family had been harassing me for a long time, years.

I was also told on a previous occasion that if the police went to their door and they said that I had started the altercation (another attempted assault on me), Id be charged with breach of the peace.

Sometimes the service you get from station to station and officer to officer will vary widely.

Unfortunately in a lot of cases nothing can be done until someone is harmed and even then, you don't always get the response you are looking for or need.

Edwardia

Was the car locked ? If not, you won't be able to claim for any damage or theft from your insurers so pls always always lock it.

I'd start by calling 101 and asking for the incident number or crime number for the call about the car door. Even if you can't remember the date, your name and address will find it. You want the police email address of the officer who attended.

If the car was locked, then the neighbour had to commit Criminal Damage to get into it and remove it. TBH I'm not sure whether removing a door from an unlocked car would count as Criminal Damage or not. So if you get the police officer's email you can ask whether it was Criminal Damage or not and what action has been/will be taken.

Did the police officer see the car door off ? Did you take any photos ? (If so email them to the officer) Would your friend confirm to police in a statement the state it was in and how he had to fix it ?

In future, do a walk-round of the car before you leave for work or go anywhere, so that you notice any damage. Take a photo if there is and make a note (most phones have Notes now). Doing it at the time makes it admissible evidence in court.

You can find out from eservices.landregistry.gov.uk and clicking on Find A Property whether this guy owns the house he lives in. If he does GREAT that gives you the option of a civil claim against him for Damage and get dosh out of him. If he doesn't do not under any circumstances, contact his landlord as this could be construed as Harassment.

If you have household insurance or union membership or Co-op membership, or anything else with legal services ie maybe through work, find out and call them. The advice should be free. Give them all the details and if the guy does own the house and the police response isn't great you can explore taking him to court later (and may not have to pay for it) and again, it's a log.

If you can't access legal advice through any of these find out if you're eligible for free legal advice through Civil Legal Advice https://www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice.

If you're not eligible then https://www.lawcentres.org.uk or https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk should be able to assist.

Don't put up with a PCSO response because it usually goes no further than their notebooks. You should call 999 if you feel at risk or 101 otherwise even if it's just to log an incident. Get an incident # and if it's homophobic insist on a crime number.

Definition of hate crime
http://www.stonewall.org.uk/at_home/hate_crime_domestic_violence_and_criminal_law/2638.asp

Edwardia

CCTV if you're thinking of getting one to watch your car

https://www.ico.org.uk
Have a chat with Information Commisioner's Office
(a) about your own camera
(b) about these other people surveilling you.

Police forces aren't always clear on CCTV in domestic properties. They can say diddly squat if there's a camera watching the street from inside your house.

If it's on the outside, it has to be compliant with local planning regs or it can't be used in court. Police may not know that but a defence lawyer prolly would !

There are Home Office guidelines which the police may spout at you as if they were law, but they are just guidelines. The Data Protection Act doesn't apply to domestic properties unless you're running a business from home.

(b) watching you as Harassment
Difficult to prove but you could cause them aggro by asking for a copy of all their footage of you and partner could do same. Ask ICO aboout it.

ICO is very helpful as is Stonewall http://www.stonewall.org.uk/what_we_do/3435.asp

Be firm but polite with police. Make them justify why they won't use a piece of legislation they could use - this is also why free legal advice is helpful. https://www.legislation.gov.uk has all UK law on it.

You can make an organisational complaint abt the police if you think it's their policy of not using legislation, refusing to report crimes etc and you can make complaints against individual officers if they are homophobic. The procedure will be on their website.