DU POLL: Would you readily call the cops if you needed help?

[Marthe48]

28. Depends on situation

Teens were high and running wild through our neighborhood. Some of the younger neighbors tried to stop them --one of them beat up a 12 year old boy, the gang tore up Christmas decorations. Our car was vandalized and there were fistfights between the young neighbors and the teens. The cops had been called once, and didn't take the teens in. Someone called the cops again and they arrested at least 2 of the teens. The next morning, some relatives of the teens came back to our neighborhood with the intent of beating up one of the neighbors who'd been in a fistfight with one of the teens. So somebody called the cops again. They warned the relatives to stay off our street or get arrested. And detained 2 underage kids to be picked up at the police station by their parents. So in that case, the cops did their job, sort of. I would have liked to see the adult relatives arrested instead of warned.

In my old neighborhood, one of my neighbors has an adult son. He came to 'visit' and stayed. He is abusive and controlling. One of the first nights he was there, she called my husband and me to come over because he had shoved the refrigerator against the wall and knocked things off it, broke those and then broke the toilet tank lid. We got them calmed down, but from then on, I didn't like or trust the son. She called the cops on him one night after that. She said she wanted him out of her house. He has no claim to the house, but the cops said he had been there long enough, she'd have to evict him to get him out. I got her ok to contact elder protection and she had a caseworker. I hope that having a caseworker protected her. He finally left and she swore that she'd never let him come back. That was a few years ago. Right before we moved, she told me he had quit drinking and he was going to come for a 3 month visit. That was almost 2 years ago and he is still there and she is selling her house and moving just to get rid of him. He is just as abusive and controlling and she is so unhappy. I think the cops were ignorant of the law and should have gotten him out when she called them. He was threatening her. And it is escalating-she told me he has pushed her twice. She accuses him and he says he just brushed past her through a door. With steps. Yeah, right.

Everyone involved in both incidents are white.