5 ms·

At least try talking to people before calling the cops on them for making noise. What is controversial about this?

derekp7 7y ago
I think that some people have either had bad enough experiences themselves, or have heard of incidents, where they fear confrontation. By talking to someone who is engaging in an annoying (to you) or antisocial behavior, you are opening yourself up to retaliation by that person. If you just call the police anonymously then the target doesn't know who to retaliate against. Of course, a much better strategy is to go out of your way to be neighborly, get to know the people around you. That way if someone is having a party a few houses down, instead of calling the cops you can grab a couple six packs and head on down and join them.
- mrhappyunhappy 7y ago
  This might work if you live in a decent neighborhood. I lived in a shitty part of town in my teens and both of the neighbors on either side of us were total degenerates. One dealt drugs out of his house and the other had zero respect for people’s sleep - played loude music at 2 am and had druggies hang around the house. Talking to ether one was pointless. I usually just called cops right away and for the most part it worked well.
jraines 7y ago
It’s a game theory situation in the context of not being acquainted with your neighbors. If you go to them directly and they aren’t receptive, you lose goodwill (or stay at par, at best). If you then call the cops, you lose at lot more goodwill, probably into the negative, possibly with more adverse consequences to you if someone decides you are discriminating against the partiers for some reason other than “I am disturbed by the noise”. If you call the cops first, and they don’t know it was you, you win (if the cops shut it down). The optimal solution is, of course, to get to know your neighbors and establish goodwill before any of this. Absent that, I don’t think law enforcement ignoring complaints is a good solution, because many people aren’t going to be content with “there is literally nothing you can do if your neighbors are making your home unlivable.” Those people, if they can’t move, will resort to rash actions or non-state “settlers of questions”
deleted 7y ago
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briandear 7y ago
It can be pretty risky to knock on a door to tell someone to keep it down. You have no idea how they might react. Knocking on random doors can be very unsafe in typical urban environments, unless it’s someone you already know.
- llamataboot 7y ago
  Having spent a lot of my adult living in pretty impoverished urban environments, and having knocked on a lot of doors for both personal and professional reasons (as a neighbor, and as a social worker) - I think the risks are pretty overblown. Talk to your neighbors. Definitely talk to your neighbors instead of calling highly armed and confrontational people who can kill someone or toss them in a cage because of something affecting your quality of life.
  - standardUser 7y ago
    I don't particularly want someone who has already proven themselves to be rude and inconsiderate to know my name, face and address. The kind of people who don't care about how their actions impact other people are precisely the kind of people I always strive to avoid - not get to know on a first name basis.
    - rxhernandez 7y ago
      Not every culture is the same in what they consider rude; not every socioeconomic group is the same in what they consider rude; not every person is the same in what they consider rude. Consider talking to people and trying to understand them before you cast judgement on them. Cultural relativism really isn't that hard.
      - standardUser 7y ago
        Honestly, I might if I think it's just women, but for crying out loud does anyone anywhere want to go confront any man about something like this? No one wants to go tell some big guy to stop begin an inconsiderate prick. And if his cultural background leads him to truly believe he is not being a prick, that just makes the situation FAR more frightening.

I think that some people have either had bad enough experiences themselves, or have heard of incidents, where they fear confrontation. By talking to someone who is engaging in an annoying (to you) or antisocial behavior, you are opening yourself up to retaliation by that person. If you just call the police anonymously then the target doesn't know who to retaliate against. Of course, a much better strategy is to go out of your way to be neighborly, get to know the people around you. That way if someone is having a party a few houses down, instead of calling the cops you can grab a couple six packs and head on down and join them.

mrhappyunhappy 7y ago
This might work if you live in a decent neighborhood. I lived in a shitty part of town in my teens and both of the neighbors on either side of us were total degenerates. One dealt drugs out of his house and the other had zero respect for people’s sleep - played loude music at 2 am and had druggies hang around the house. Talking to ether one was pointless. I usually just called cops right away and for the most part it worked well.

jraines 7y ago

It’s a game theory situation in the context of not being acquainted with your neighbors. If you go to them directly and they aren’t receptive, you lose goodwill (or stay at par, at best). If you then call the cops, you lose at lot more goodwill, probably into the negative, possibly with more adverse consequences to you if someone decides you are discriminating against the partiers for some reason other than “I am disturbed by the noise”. If you call the cops first, and they don’t know it was you, you win (if the cops shut it down). The optimal solution is, of course, to get to know your neighbors and establish goodwill before any of this. Absent that, I don’t think law enforcement ignoring complaints is a good solution, because many people aren’t going to be content with “there is literally nothing you can do if your neighbors are making your home unlivable.” Those people, if they can’t move, will resort to rash actions or non-state “settlers of questions”

deleted 7y ago

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briandear 7y ago

It can be pretty risky to knock on a door to tell someone to keep it down. You have no idea how they might react. Knocking on random doors can be very unsafe in typical urban environments, unless it’s someone you already know.

llamataboot 7y ago
Having spent a lot of my adult living in pretty impoverished urban environments, and having knocked on a lot of doors for both personal and professional reasons (as a neighbor, and as a social worker) - I think the risks are pretty overblown. Talk to your neighbors. Definitely talk to your neighbors instead of calling highly armed and confrontational people who can kill someone or toss them in a cage because of something affecting your quality of life.
- standardUser 7y ago
  I don't particularly want someone who has already proven themselves to be rude and inconsiderate to know my name, face and address. The kind of people who don't care about how their actions impact other people are precisely the kind of people I always strive to avoid - not get to know on a first name basis.
  - rxhernandez 7y ago
    Not every culture is the same in what they consider rude; not every socioeconomic group is the same in what they consider rude; not every person is the same in what they consider rude. Consider talking to people and trying to understand them before you cast judgement on them. Cultural relativism really isn't that hard.
    - standardUser 7y ago
      Honestly, I might if I think it's just women, but for crying out loud does anyone anywhere want to go confront any man about something like this? No one wants to go tell some big guy to stop begin an inconsiderate prick. And if his cultural background leads him to truly believe he is not being a prick, that just makes the situation FAR more frightening.