I just want to have the right to not fear for the security of my house

[Sharky]

Man, of all the houses in the whole world, i had to move next door to a drug dealer. You might have read about the guy in my garden etc.

Anyway, our gate is broken and today, some guy came through our gate (which is open and keeps swinging open) in the back yard, walked straight towards my back door (came like 1.5-2m from the door), stared at my housemate (a girl) and then jumped over the wall into the neighbours garden when she looked away to call me (i was in shower). From the description of the guy it was the guy that got arrested so a) why is he not still in jail b) why is he in my back yard c) if he was just trying to get into his own yard cos his gate was locked, why did he peer at my housemate, who is very shook up (she's not used to this kind of stuff) and come so close to our back door?

The wierd thing is that she said he was just staring straight at her (and she looked back, both just staring at each other) as he walked towards the house. If he meant to use our garden to get into his, then why walk towards our door, and stare at the girl? Why not just go through the gate then immediately climb over the wall?

He was blatantly checking if anyone was in or something. For all i know, he could think i/we reported him to the police.

Now, i've worked my ass off to buy all this stuff in my room, sort of like a home studio (i worked 16 hour days in a nightclub - stocking up crates of bottles etc, then watching morons **** their money away (literally, if you think about it) at night, working as a glass collector) and i am constantly in fear of being burgled.

Unfortunately, i'm not insured. To insure my room would cost about 300 quid and i don't have that kind of cash, especially not to spend on something i never even get to play with (i'm kidding). My parents have home insurance on their house and they have a 5k limit of 'external stuff' that we could claim on - but that isn't entirely 'proper' or ideal, or indeed enough to cover the worth of my stuff.

Literally i am scared ****less, not of 'being attacked' (in fact, many a time have i dreamed of being at home when the guys who burgled me last year broke in) but of coming home and my stuff not being there. I don't wanna turn into a hermit who doesn't go out.

More importantly, i have been doing bloody 16 hour days cramming for exams, i can't get any work done at home. Now i'm too scared to go to the library - it was last year when i was at the library (not getting p*ssed and shagging teenagers) that i was burgled. Pretty much exactly a year ago (was 13th of jan).

Should i go to the library? What do i do? Besides asking the landlord to fix the gate (we did that ages ago, c*nt).

Help.

[Sharky]

Basically two of the girls i live with are gonna go, 1 housemate is away in london, and i'm gonna stay in armed with like 9 maglites and a big kitchen knife.

I'll try and get some work done downstairs.

[SevenStar]

can you move your equipment to a friend's house?

[Royal Dragon]

Move, it's the only way.

Either that, or put all of your stuff in storage (to protect it), and prepare for a long hard fight, that you probably can't win anyway.

Constantly calling the cops, and you will have them break in and steal, or just plain vandalise when your not looking as revenge for calling the cops on them. So you have to be repared for that.

Don't try to threaten or intimidate them, especially if you can't back it up. They will see it as a challenge for dominance in the pack, and cause more problems for you.

I lived near these types before, and it always results in breakins, vandalisum, or violence.

It's best to quietly move away, or silently assasinate them in the night. One or the other.

[Sharky]

I could move it all back home to london, but then what good is having it if i can't use it? I'm not gonna be in london for more than a few days at a time for a year and a half - and even then I don't even have a room at my parents house in london. I can't move from here until after summer at least, as i'm in a contract. And i have a huge room, the whole house is cool.

Moving isn't really an option. The house itself is lovely, wooden floors, leather sofa n that, not your average type of place that a person my age would be living in - and to be honest the neighbours have never really 'bothered' us in anyway directly, apart from this.

I'm at home now, wasted half the day easily cos of it - and it's hardly something you can put down on your exam paper 'i was going slightly mad cos there was a man in my back garden, and so i couldn't study'. I don't wanna tell my family about this stuff as a) they will pretty much make me move all my stuff out and b) get overly paranoid.

The guys actions were really confusing, that's the worst thing.

[Sharky]

I think my paranoia is mainly down to the fact that i've been burgled before, a year ago, rather than the neighbours actions.

[SevenStar]

I would move the stuff, man. even if you can't use it, at least you'd have it, no? you don't have any nearby friends who would keep the stuff?

[Sharky]

i don't have anyone nearby that has a safer house than me. i only know 1 guy off my course, and his house is next door to the one i was living in last year (pretty much next door anyway), and that street well known for burgulries (sic, sorry)

[eulerfan]

I've known some drug dealers before. Socially. They only sold the wacky tobaccy. I really think it should be legal so, theoretically, I didn't have a problem with them being dealers.

However, after hanging out with them for about a year and seeing how paranoid it made them to be doing something illegal all the time, I had to stop hanging out with them.

I was afraid they would get busted or something bad would happen and they would think I had something to do with it. They were so constantly identifying people in their lives as enemies. Without reason or logic.

So, my vote is for MOVE. If they even think that you maybe, might have been the ones to call the cops, they have a little war against you happening in their heads, I'd bet. Even if you don't see that you have any relationship whatsoever, they might see that you have a highly antagonistic relationship.

Paranoid as you are right now, these guys are criminals. Imagine how paranoid they are.

Be very, VERY careful.

[guohuen]

I lived next to a drug dealer in the seventies. It got so bad with people making noise and loitering near my door that I put a laminated plastic poster on my door explaining that I was not the dealer and if customers and police didn't respect my privicy they might meet their maker sooner than expected. It worked , but did not endear me with the police.

[Samurai Jack]

Wow! I really like that idea with the poster. I think guohuen's on to something there. Why don't you just put up a large poster explaining that the drug dealers live next door and that "customers" aren't welcome on your property?

I spent some time in the U.K. last year and was quite surprised at the way the legal system works there. If you called the cops on the nieghbor dealers here in the states, your nieghbors wouldn't even be there anymore.

Can you contact thier landlord? Report it to your landlord? Is there an equivalent to a nieghborhood watch program in London? Wouldn't it be a kick to have fifty or so nieghbors and thier children picketing in front of the dealer's house?

It seems to me that silent acceptance is what keeps dealers in a nieghborhood anyway. Places where enough people are willing to stand up for themselves, and the law, tend to discourage such filth from settling in.

[dnc101]

Originally posted by guohuen
I lived next to a drug dealer in the seventies. It got so bad with people making noise and loitering near my door that I put a laminated plastic poster on my door explaining that I was not the dealer and if customers and police didn't respect my privicy they might meet their maker sooner than expected. It worked , but did not endear me with the police.

The police are never happy with you for being up front about protecting yourself. I'd keep quiet and consider the following options:

Arson.
Vigilance, if you have the right kind of friends.
Hire muscle to help, if you have the bucks and know how to go about it.
Set them up with the police- shouldn't be too hard since they are already outside the law. The police just need some extra incentive to really put them away.

Don't confront them, you'll just be blamed for anything that does happen to them after that.
Use judgement about when or if to contact the police. That's a tough call with too many variables to go into. Basically, file complaints only if you have facts that are incriminating and provable in court. You may have to invest some time watching and documenting and gathering evidence, but be carefull not to fall afoul of the law here yourself. And obviously you won't want to call the coppers if you burn them out or hire someone else to beat them up or intimidate them .

Good luck, Sharky. I've been in similar circumstances, so I feel for ya. The good news is you'll probably survive it.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

"If you called the cops on the nieghbor dealers here in the states, your nieghbors wouldn't even be there anymore."

that's not always true. what if the cops are already watching them? they arent going to stop their survalence just because a neighbor called in ... they are going to wait for something bigger ... move evidence ... better links to the big guys ... whatever coppers wait for.

sharky ... how are these guys otherwise? i would make friends with them if they werent complete pieces of sh it. im not recommending you go party with them, certainly not that you would let them party at your place, but you know ... just be neighborly.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

.... if you did start talkin to them you could put that paranoia to some use by casually mentioning false work/school schedules and what not.

[Royal Dragon]

You could also make THEM paranoid by going over ther house very politely and tell them (As a waring of course) That a detective was knocking on your door asking questions about them.

It won't do anything productive, but it's a fun mind game to play, and it makes you look like you are on thier side because you warned them about the cops snooping around. in the mean time you can enjoy the fact that they are suffering with fear and paranoia that is not justified.