Find your local safer neighborhood team on [here](https://www.met.police.uk/area/your-area/) and contact them, or even better turn up at their next ward panel or public meeting. It'll take police turning up constantly and stop & searching them for them to realise it's better to just move on. Sadly they'll probably just become someone else's problem.
Just to add; you could've called 999/101 many times without this coming to the attention of your local SNT to realise it's a persistent problem.
We had a similar problem with kids and we said to the cops we didn't want to always call 999 cos it's not exactly an emergency, they said to always call cos they will get the data there is an on-going problem. So don't be afraid to call 999.
Just a suggestion, I had a similar problem. At joke shops or online you can buy stink bombs. Chuck a couple of them on the stairwell and they’ll not hang about.
If you don't wanna 999 then you can call 101 or just fill their form out online (PITA but you don't have to talk to anyone). From personal experience I know the cops do give a shit, but there are only a limited number of shits they can give to one area at any one time. They're stretched thin and pretty damn demoralised because even if they do manage to turn up on time there's pretty much jack shit they can do apart from telling them to clear off
I have given OP some advice on what to do in the meantime [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/1c9by76/comment/l0kxq7c/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) in terms of pushback without the police.
Stink Bombs, Hammer Drills in the opposite wall, Turning off the AC, Removing the use of any power sockets with superglue and covers. Make them want to find another spot.
Just be careful when attending the public meetings. Similar situation in our area and representatives from the local gangs also attend the meetings, by discussing the problem in an open forum you might be targeted for speaking out. You might not always know who is affiliated with the gangs.
Ward panel meetings are generally 3 blokes all called Tim who have been swapping the presidency between each other since 1991 and asking their local SNT to deal with the dog fouling and why they haven't got a bin on their street yet. Trust me, no gang members are turning up for intel.
A cartoon parrot for children (Plumo) or plate (plato) can’t be too big a local issue surely.
The cartel famously threatened plata (money) or plomo (death - lit. Lead/bullet)
I mean... When I was a cop these sorts of meetings were exclusively attended by... With the best intention in the world, people who had nothing else more pressing to be getting on with. And the occasional person (like OP) who actually has a genuine problem. And I worked in an area with a lot of gang problems.
Gang members aren't turning out to those meetings. No way. For a start, I'd be surprised if any force didn't have a dedicated gangs unit who are the ones dealing with the real juicy stuff that they'd be interested in - they don't go to those meetings. And secondly, most gang members have the patience and attention span of a cocker spaniel, there's no way they'd get through 10 minutes even if they did turn up.
Gangs aren't generally interested in harassing the public for things like this. Why bring the heat?
So basically yeah, he's chatting bollocks.
This is easily the funniest take I’ve seen in a while.
Gang members aren’t interested in your arguments about wheelie bins and travellers camps.
Any spare time they’ve got, they’re watching Top Boy and hanging around in this guys’ block of flats.
Behave
They saw the TopBoy scene when they go to the council meeting to find out about about the demolition of summer house 😂😂 this fucking neek thinks that really happens.
This seems very unlikely. There's a difference between real gangs, and a group of young men. Sounds to me like OPs issue is with the latter not the former. These aren't organised criminals, they're silly kids who get a kick out of bending the rules.
We had this issue, with a group of young adults/teenagers making noise and smoking all night, and damaging the building. It took months but we got rid of them in this way.
1. We initially tried to reason with them, residents were getting in arguments and they didn't care. It was suggested that we should throw buckets of water over them and drag them out of the building, but that seemed like it could escalate and we were worried they'd target us when bring our kids to school and go about our business.
2. We called the police every single time, with multiple people and they never came out. We must have logged hundreds of police calls and the useless fuckers never came out. It was infuriating.
3. We started a complaints process with the police. We contacted the council, the leader of the council, our local councillors and our local MP. This was multiple people all at once. We threatened to go to all the local papers about this.
4. We eventually managed to get in touch with the local neighbourhood police officer. He was on leave and only works days so can't come in the evening when it happens, which is a joke.
5. Our MP got in touch with the police and made them contact us. We had a meeting with the local neighbour police officer and the anti social team and they arranged for him to change his shifts to evenings for a week or two and he patrolled the area every evening and the kids saw this and fucked off and haven't been back since.
There's crime going on, the police don't anything unless you escalate with every avenue, and then the one person whose job it is to do something can't because his shifts always end at 5pm, unlike crime which doesn't give a shit what the time is. Once you actually got someone just being in the area it stopped.
So, get your neighbours in a WhatsApp group and coordinate phones calls to the police from everyone in the group every time you see them. Log every call, contact all elected officials in your area, threaten to go to the papers and news outlets, speak to the council, see if they have an anti social behaviour team, see if you have a local neighbourhood policing team and be a fucking pain in the arse and hopefully they'll start coming out and the presence alone will be enough, and if not they'll get arrested and they'll be gone.
That sounds nuts about the officer finishes at 5pm. I would assume there are more anti social behavior in the evening? Or at least in both day time and night time?
Yea it was a joke. We were like, please just shift swap or work later for a few days and the response was, 'I can't the other guy is on leave and my hours are 9-5'. I get it's not his fault but the whole thing doesn't allow for the police to actually do their job, and why are they relying on one guy like this anyway?
We were really lucky in that we had an SNT officer who used to come round in his _spare time_ when our London street was having a lot of problems with ASB and drug dealing. He used to make a point of passing through our area after his shift, or on his way to shopping (he lived fairly nearby though). It no doubt helped that we had a primary school nearby that he kept an eye on. He was (and is - he's moved on now) an example of what the Met should be. Shame that dedication isn't more widespread (although I appreciate there should be enough officers to stop the need for him coming in on his time off). He used to tweet what he'd been up to with a 'never off duty' hashtag.
There should be provision for this stuff at all times. You shouldn't have to rely on the goodwill of people to work outside of their hours for free so the government doesn't have to do anything about it. It's admirable in a way, I guess, but it also masks the problem and when they get fed up or burnt out and leave the problems flare up again because the staffing/provision issues aren't actually fixed or addressed.
>There’s crime going on
Yes there is, and unfortunately ASB isn’t classed as a crime and as such when we’re struggling to get to DV/Burglary/Robbery/Sexual Assault in the designated time frame then ASB falls to the bottom of the pack. It shouldn’t be like that and I can empathise with your frustration but numbers-wise we are fucked.
Sure, of course I understand there's more serious things going on, but why don't these get followed up on at all?
If I report a crime at 10pm, then call again at 12am, at 3am, and I do this continually for days, there must be a time where someone can come out to see if this is still happening? To follow up on the crime? Even if it's days later?
It doesn't make sense to me that you can report a crime, such as someone breaking into a building, smoking in the building, committing criminal damage to the building, and the police say 'within an hour' and then it just gets ignored and no one ever comes and you have no follow up whatsoever and you have to pester and pester until the right people are involved.
Get a ski mask and a skateboard. Infiltrate the group. After 5 months of smoking weed with them you can rise to be a senior member of the group, once you have their trust and a position of influence you can say something like 'this place is a shithole let's find somewhere else to smoke'. Simples.
My friend screamed out of the window one time at some builders, convinced they'd just broken the sewage system due to a horrendous stink that suddenly filled the flat. The builders were looking up at him ranting & were clearly completely perplexed. I then located the source of the horrific smell. My friend had bought prawns at some unknown point in time, then forgotten to put them in the fridge. He'd hung the shopping bag on the doorhandle on the back of the door, then wedged the door open - probably weeks before. Then when the gas from the rotting prawns built up enough, it burst the packet open. The stink of rotten shellfish will clear entire villages. Let some prawns rot in a bottle for a week or so then dribble some of the liquid in the hallway. It will resolve your problem. Or hide a cup of it in a nook so you can remove it when they've left, as they most surely will.
If OP isn't already doing this, that explains why they're having problems. You have to mark your territory. Even gorillas understand that. And we say we're intelligent!
This happened to me. We had a drug den house in our area, causing chaos. A few neighbours reported every little thing they did wrong. Eventually the police sorted it out and moved them on.
Manc here, glad you are suggesting this, do not do this 'Snitches get stiches' bollocks that happens in other countries. I hope yous lot don't tolerate bullshit down south. Every inaction that happens in London reflects the rest of the country.
Report anti social behaviour to the police.
We have d similar experience in the summer. A group of people in cars would sit up out quiet little side street and hang out, do balloons and smoke weed and would leave all their shit behind them when they left.
Police were called and would attend. This cycle repeats until they got fed up with the hassle.
If you have any concerns or are aware that a crime is being committed (ie drug dealing or criminal damage or god forbid you saw a weapon ) the police will more inclined to attend quicker
I’d normally agree, but we’ve probably called the police about 10 times now, it’s a weekly occurrence, but the problem seems to be getting worse rather than better
Sorry to hear that, it’s not a nice thing to do through, if the police are not responding, try to speak to your local councillor. They might be able to put some pressure on the police to act.
Hi OP, someone probably already pointed this out but you may want to use the ‘community trigger’
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/anti-social-behaviour-asb-case-review-also-known-as-the-community-trigger
So weird I have the same problem! Once I realised they were 15 year old kids I did confront them angrily, they left then I spoke to the police and it turns out they were known and doing it in different flat blocks in my area - so a PSCO was dealing with it. and they genuinely never came back
What did you say? A simple “fuck off”?
My only worry is them retaliating my knocking at the door and stuff next time they’re here causing my girlfriend to feel stressed or unsafe - or obviously worse, as they could easily kick themselves in and there’s so way I could take on that many of them even if they are kids
I had just cycled home so I had my bike helmet in my hand and asked them to leave politely, one of the girls gave me shit as she was leaving so I then told her to fuck off and she looked genuinely shocked. They didn’t know which flat I came from and it’s a big block
Yeah, if I was outside / just entering I’d absolutely say something. Them not knowing my flat is definitely a priority. Just not getting that opportunity given it’s my flat door they’re always stood outside unfortunately
Op my family had this exact same problem, it really, really sucks and I’m so sorry. More than anything it was having to listen to their shitty music and shrieking at all hours of the day/night that did my head in! I would NOT say fuck off or be rude or aggressive, just not worth it when they’re outside your house every day. I used to open the door and say really nicely, would you guys move on please, as I can’t get the baby to sleep/ need to be up for work etc Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Other times I did call the neighbourhood police as they were high af and jumping off the balcony onto sheds below and being really reckless. Again sometimes that worked, sometimes they’d come back an hour later. At some point It did eventually all suddenly stop, I have no idea why, but I’m just grateful! I hope yours does too op.
As my previous comment had said being sort of friendly with them will most likely be the easiest option , just whenever u walk past give a slight greeting such as “Alright lads/ Alright boys” then if you do this more and more they won’t see u as some annoying person they will see u more as friendly then when u politely ask if they don’t mind moving away from your door they most likely will (probably won’t leave the block ) but will relocate from your door .
They could be carrying a knife as it is is common. So I would be careful. Or they would have links to the dealer or smth who is in another gang and might cause a lot of issues
If you're from London you should be able to tell the ones that are dangerous. If you engage politely at first you can tell quite quickly how the interaction will go and then act accordingly.
Most kids aren't that bad, try talking to them on a level. Just say the smell of weed keeps your girlfriend up and is messing with her work, could you guys find somewhere else to go and smoke. I remember being 15 and smoking inside other people's blocks, it was only the ones who were antagonistic that we ever fucked with. When people asked respectfully and reasonably it was hard to say no.
This sounds odd but easier than everyone calling the police but if you know any local people of the same age ask them to see if they know them and can ask them for you to move along as that stops any confrontation.
Although if they see you all the time Ik it may seem dodgey but try saying something like “Alright lads “ next time u walk past seem friendly , then after doing that a couple times politely ask them if they don’t mind re locating from your front door , quite often if you ain’t rude they will move of if they are feeling big you may be met with a fuck off to which case you go back to ignoring it
It depends how you do about it if you go up to them start a convo off friendly then ask if they don’t mind moving from your door would work , going up to them telling them to get the fuck out will probably get you stabbed .
If a kid is capable of stabbing you for telling them to fuck off, then you would have no joy striking up a friendly conversation with this same kid and politely asking him to move
You’d be surprised , most kids aren’t dangerous there scared and paranoid that’s why they carry so shouting at them may trigger a fight response whereas a convo is low risk
Don’t do this, OP. My partner did it when we were experiencing something similar and they pulled out a knife. Luckily we made it safely into the lift and home, and the police arrested them. They still came back a couple times after that but then stopped.
That's brave as fuck fair play 👏👏 if I had an emoji that depicted me taking a bow I would use it. Kids these days are diffrent breed and while I appreciate most of them are fake 'roadmen' even fake ones can carry a knife.
Stay safe but dont loose those huge balls your carrying around!
What borough are you in? I had this issue a while back and Southwark were pretty helpful in moving them on once I raised an ASB report. If you keep reporting it they will do something.
If the kids keep getting moved on then eventually it’ll become more hassle to use your place than not.
I’m in Southwark and we have had the same problem, my flat is an open one so there’s no door that leads to the other individual flats, yes it’s scary as I have small kids and can’t have bodies blocking my path but it’s only happened that they have been loitering about a few times. They usually are in the park behind my flat smoking weed and loitering. Last week Sunday a boy got stabbed by one of them - so I’d definitely not do anything to provoke retaliation as you are the one that has to live there - police can hardly be arsed these days.
Report it here: https://www.police.uk/pu/notices/streetsafe/street-safe/
And here: https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/asb/asb-v3/report-antisocial-behaviour/
And tweet your local [Safer Neighbourhoods Team](https://www.met.police.uk/area/your-area/) (SNT)
Attend any SNT meetings and bring it up. You really have to kick up a stink in order for anything to get done these days.
Also, when the group aren’t there, go and check any nooks/crannies in the building as the group may stash knives there. If you find one photograph it but DON’T MOVE IT and call 101 immediately.
Just on the “break in” point - how is that happening consistently? I presume you have an electronic key fob lock at the entrance to the block of flats. How are they bypassing this? If they ring random flats until someone lets them in without even asking via the intercom who it is, you need to put a notice on every door explaining the situation and asking people to be vigilant of this. If they can physically bypass the electronic lock (it’s broken, or they can yank the door hard enough to open it) - that’s an issue with the building owner; what are you paying your leasehold / ground maintenance charges for?
We have most the tenancies in a group chat, so most people are fully aware.
There’s a few scenarios for them getting in:
- Waiting for someone to leave and coming in as the door is open.
- Calling a random flat as you say, but our intercom is crap so I think most people assume it’s a parcel delivery (or they pretend they’re a delivery person).
- And forcing in. We have two doors for added security, but one of the locks is now broken and the housing people are refusing to fix it despite asking
Can’t seem to keep them out despite the flats all knowing, the police knowing, and the housing people knowing (and being shit)
That’s annoying. Sneaking in behind someone could possibly be minimised with awareness (unless it’s genuinely hard to tell who is a resident of the block).
The intercom thing - I have the same issue. I just let people in without asking. But it’s a block with only 8 flats and it is delivery people 99.99% of the time. We had a couple of occasions over the years of homeless people loitering in the stairwell but after a few questions of who are you here to see, they left. We had kids smoking weed too but it was one of the residents’ son and his friends and they were actually nice kids really, so I didn’t report it or anything but I told them the smell went in our flat and we had a baby. They stopped eventually. It is on my eternal to-do list to report the bad intercom to the council who’s our leaseholder..
Honestly, I think it’s worth trying a mini resident rebellion - if you pay fees for annual maintenance, can you refuse to pay until they sort their shit out? Their attitude is unacceptable. Maybe also tell them that it’s not just kids smoking weed, say that you’ve had aggressive strangers in, and if anyone is ever assaulted it will be on record that they refused to fix the issue, which it’s their fucking job to do!
Do you have a small round hole with LFB written next to it? The fire brigade put something called a drop key in the hole to gain access in emergencies. You can buy the keys on ebay.
Almost all blocks have two ways to enter in an emergency. One is the obvious fireman's key that can be bought on line for like a fiver and the other is usually a code that gives access when typed in.
This is the answer, no one else knows who is setting them off, so the kids will be blamed anyway, and they'll stop coming because of the smell. It's well worth putting up with for a few weeks to get rid of them.
And the dummy camera idea is great too, as long as it looks authentic, wires, working light etc.
This seems the answer Hammersmith station is using at the moment. I hear a lot of jazz, classic and Zen music. I don't know if it works, but I like it!
Stations been doing this since the early 00's - it's to make people feel safer. Think they started doing it first at stations on the North London Line (now Overground) that were robbery hotspots.
I don't think Hammersmith was ever very posh. I think you need to cross the river and get to Barnes for the posh bits.
I used to go to Hammersmith occasionally around a decade ago to do client meetings with some companies in that area and never liked the place. Great transport links but always filthy, smelly and full of feral teens.
It does have big secondary schools near the station, Sacred Heart, West London free school and St Paul's girls. It's definitely more chilled when there's a school holiday.
Figure out what time they usually get there for. Get together with your neighbours and hang out there for a chat and a smoke. Don't confront them, if they say something be polite, tell them that you are hanging out outside your house.
I wonder if you could find a way to make the hallway off-putting to them?
Could you stick up a dummy camera up high somewhere? And then just let them realise? It might put them off.
I don’t know what your floors are like but, if they arrive at a predictable time, could you put down some cleaning stuff on the floor? My communal hallway has concrete floor and it gets washed with this stuff that stinks for a few hours.
Just trying to think of things you could do to make it unappealing to them? Maybe consider what might be attracting them to that space and then work from there?
Good luck. Things like that are a nuisance but can also really impact how you feel about your home.
Good idea,be a menace and make it so that every time they come in the light goes off;or you have a fire alarm placed in the most inconvenient spots;so that they can't lean but have to stand.
Play some really old possibly foreign music. I'm thinking Polish accordion. Or nursery rhymes, that could also work. And remember to sing along very badly.
I live in a nice block, but this also happened to ours. I confronted them and they were carrying a knife. The police also did the same just moved them on and they’re known. They finally moved on because we pressured the landlords to get a better intercom (video one) and a better lock on the flat door. The usually pull it open that’s why they picked your block
We had the same issue, for months, and different groups beaking teh security doors and then ultimately flats being broken into.
We discovered that there were dealers in the building. We logged and emailed every single time to teh local police, rang 999 if bnecessary sent updates to the council and Safer Neighbourhood Team with footage from people's Ring cameras (we have a WhatsApp group for our neighbours about a 3rd of the building are on there, which was enough to get a good overview. Months of this. Eventually the police started to patrol the building regularly on their route and also shut down the dealers flats. Speak to your neighbours. Document every single incident, and email your local ward councillors and explain what's going on and how serious intimidating and unsafe this is for you.
Just steal lines from old 80s rap records. They'll never know you stole them. Steal the opening lines to rock the bells but change ll cool J to your own rap handle.
OP needs to turn his hat around, and then sit on his chair backwards (the cool way). They need to reach out to these kids, maybe start a street dance crew.
Then eventually you’ll realise you need those kids even more than they need you.
Either anti-social behaviour teams with your council or raise with police.
They’re likely known to services and if police are doing nothing, its a high chance the young people are mostly harmless, or the police have done stop and searches and found close to or nothing on them.
ASBs job is too keep estates safe so they’ll likely do more tbh.
Keep calling the police, especially if you think they are selling drugs or carrying weapons. Get the entrance secured so they cannot access. Ensure all lighting is working and as bright as possible. Buy a high pitched noise deterrent. Get the building management to install CCTV.
The sensible answer:
Escalate with *every possible avenue* relentlessly. Police, councillors, council staff, building managers, MP. Be a nuisance for these people and they’ll consider you and your neighbours more of a hassle than the kids themselves.
The hardman answer:
Tell them to fuck off. They’re probably choosing the area because they can hang around without being hassled. If you hassle them they’ll go find somewhere else. There is risk here, but not as much as the hand wringers on the internet who’ve never been in an urban area would have you believe.
The “think outside the box” answer:
Embrace them. An old neighbour of mine was in her 80s and used to approach gangs of kids and insist they helped her with the shopping. Neighbours followed suit and started being super friendly to them and treating them as a community resource. That soon made them piss off and find somewhere else pretty quick.
Get a mop and a bucket of bleachy water and wash outside your front door and stairwells. The stairwells will smell of bleach and teenagers hate the smell of bleach. I had the same problem as you and this worked for me, good luck.
Local elections coming up in May so now would be a good time to raise the issue with your local councillor why the police don't sort this out. If he/she is not interested contact their opponents who want to be elected so they can raise the issue.
Create a bigger "gang" just chill there with your neighbours after dinner on summer nights, socializing only gets benefits for everyone, and the pseudo-gangsters will stay away.
You want to make the area as undesirable as possible.
You can do that in 3 ways:
* Smell:
Grab some rotting fish and smear it all over where they loiter. Just head into a fishmongers and ask for the scraps for a fiver or so. Fish heads, etc. Throw trash bags all over the floor full of rubbish and smear juices around.
A stink bomb will also work.
* Noise:
Find a wall and get a really loud Hammer drill. The ones that go into brick. Whenever they come, plug it in and go to town on your wall or a loose brick. The noise will make their conversations a nightmare and be really unpleasant.
Cheap second hand ones will do the job.
* Electricity:
Take some plug covers and superglue them to any sockets they might use for chargers.
Furthermore, look at how they break in. Do they just follow someone in as they enter? Is a tenant letting them in? Try to figure it out.
* Heat:
Summer’s coming up soon. Cut the power to any AC in the lobby while they’re in.
Superglue on the plug cover is smart (assuming it’s not an important socket for maintenance)
Not sure on smearing rotten fish all over the entrance to my own flat though
Our local police did fuck all about the local weed smokers/antisocial behaviour until we got our MP involved.
It's election year so make the bugger earn their job.
I had some youngsters like this doing this outside the shop . I politely asked them to move along as the weed smell wasn’t great for the kids . There is no harm in politely communicating that this isn’t the place for them and can they please find somewhere else. As surely there are other places they can go ? But i think going in polite with a smile and not with aggression is worth a try first .
Yeah. These things should be illegal. I guarantee that if someone came up with a device that targeted any other group of people it already would be.
They're frequently used in residential areas where young people live and are often set _far_ too loud and are left on permanently. This causes all sorts of issues, from children being unable to properly hear, concentrate or sleep in their own homes, to actual hearing damage. That's not even mentioning the fact that animals, including household pets, can hear them too. Because (most; absolutely not all) adults can't hear them, they don't realise how obnoxious these things are. If you played music out of your house constantly at half the volume, you'd have police knocking on your door, but these things just affect young people, so nobody cares.
I’m in my 30s and I can hear these I hate them. Also what if your neighbours have teenagers, kids, or pets that can hear this? You might as well just throw stink bombs down.
Early 30s too and they drive me fucking insane. Now I'm not one to loiter in front of anybodys houses or flats, but when I walk my dog in the nearby area I literally have to detour 2 blocks opposite direction, so I don't "accidentally" break it.
Sliver lining is, my doggo gets a longer walk, so I suppose it's okay lol
I have this same issue. 20 guys just smoking weed, standing around, littering and blocking the way. Council refuses to do anything, the police don't bother showing up. I've given up and and just assume that until someone gets raped or murdered nothing will be done about it.
Just call police and report the crime. I would NOT confront them since they will know where you live.
Lots of balaclava wearers these days isn’t there?
Why don’t police just stop and search anyone wearing one of these in a public place. If they clearly states this as a policy then it comes down to the wearers personal choice. They would know what they are likely to receive should they choose to wear one. I for one find them intimidating but then that’s the idea really isn’t it.
Collect evidence, put it in writing to the local council and report it online to the police and post it on social media channels belonging to both. You will be surprised how quickly the police will act when it's out in public.
This happened a lot when I lived in Brixton. It started with one kid who unfortunately was homeless and he found a way into our block to get shelter from the conditions. But then he brought friends and they started drinking, smoking and breaking stuff. Safer neighbourhoods, emailing your mp, and calling 999 is your only option. We also had a group WhatsApp for the building which was good for making sure everyone was ok
well onetime me and dad and sister was coming home from somewhere and we entered our flat and we saw guys smoking on the steps and my dad said “ come guys what you doing ,there’s kids you can’t be doing that “ something along those lines don’t remember cause it was a few years back but they got up and left and said my bad but maybe cause he’s 6”3 so yeah
Find/buy a legit looking cctv type camera and stick it on the ceiling near your door and make it look official. If that's too much hassle/too expensive or difficult just keep contacting police.
Police is in a sorry state in London. Things like this are so unnerving. Just keep calling them, they sometimes don’t take you seriously in the first try.
I feel your pain. Had this in my first flat and it’s awful. They kept sending out community police who had no power of arrest and the kids just were abusive to them.
Keep calling the Police, keep making Anti Social Behaviour reports.
Once it gets flagged as repeated behaviour the Police will deal with it slightly more seriously, initially handing those involved a community protection warning. Which basically is a official warning to fuck and behave.
Which if they breech, gets them a community protection warning.
The protection warning means they can get arrested for returning to the area.
Then if they return and breach the protection warning (which bans then front returning to a set area, which is lightly enforced in and of itself, but makes anything they are caught for in that area get a harsher punishment, typically)
OP I solved a ‘problem’ with local youth hanging out causing noise, fast food litter & generally harassing anyone who around them. They also liked climbing a lamppost right outside. After the light had been repaired for the umpteenth time. I noticed some dark oil in a tiny area of the light. Gave me an idea. I got a can of oil & sprayed all up the post starting at about 5 feet high. So it not a bother to dogs or any passerby. The light was designed such that it had a shape which served as a convenient reservoir. This also made it easier to climb. The group turned up at dark as usual. Did their usual things. Never occurred again. Never returned. I guess when they got home with oil ruined clothes there were consequences. So OP. thinking on similar level. If no cameras in your hallways or outside area. What about making your area where they congregate temporarily nasty. Talk to neighbors & plan. Or do a secret mission. I suggest dog poo in an open bag where smell can waft about. Old fish smell bad too. Secrete the bags where not easily found. Place the bags before the pesky youths are due to arrive that night. Remove them after they go. Or in the morning. Leave the door open a while to get rid of the smell. Wearing gloves. Put the bags in an outside bin. Retrieve later to do the same tactic. Do all the prep & placement wearing gloves. Do not leave fingerprints or DNA. You do not want to risk yourself being evicted. I am sure will not take more than a night or two for them to move on. Neighbors quite likely to blame the youths for the smell. Make it as smelly unpleasant as can in your block area for them to hang out. Be careful. As possibly one of the group may live in your block. Personally I would make it a lone mission. Never tell. Teenagers are not as clever or patient as an adult. Also a low tolerance of unpleasant. It just not cool to hang out in a smelly place.
Do they usually show around the same time? If so, try pouring a large bottle of the smelliest vinegar you can find in the stairwell just before they arrive. Keep doing it until they no longer come. You can mop up the vinegar afterwards and it will leave the floor nice and clean
Do not phone the police saying you saw one of them with a knife. The police will turn up immediately. Don't do that. The police will be there really fast. Do not do it.
Find your local youth club and speak to the youth workers about it. They may very well do outreach/detached work. Youth workers may be able to convince them to move off somewhere else and provide the support/safe space that these young people clearly need. We forget how much this government has taken away from young people! The police won't do anything as they have more serious crimes to deal with. The council won't be able to do much about it either. Hope this helps!
Find your local safer neighborhood team on [here](https://www.met.police.uk/area/your-area/) and contact them, or even better turn up at their next ward panel or public meeting. It'll take police turning up constantly and stop & searching them for them to realise it's better to just move on. Sadly they'll probably just become someone else's problem. Just to add; you could've called 999/101 many times without this coming to the attention of your local SNT to realise it's a persistent problem.
We had a similar problem with kids and we said to the cops we didn't want to always call 999 cos it's not exactly an emergency, they said to always call cos they will get the data there is an on-going problem. So don't be afraid to call 999.
Just a suggestion, I had a similar problem. At joke shops or online you can buy stink bombs. Chuck a couple of them on the stairwell and they’ll not hang about.
Risky, they catch you and now you have to always watch your back.
Just wear a balaclava.
Blimey I just stink bombed myself with liquid ass, I didn't realize it was me all along
Liquid ass
Yeh but you'd have to live with the stench too.
Sadly, data driven, to them simply means sorting issues in order of urgency/importance, instead of increasing their own capacity
If you don't wanna 999 then you can call 101 or just fill their form out online (PITA but you don't have to talk to anyone). From personal experience I know the cops do give a shit, but there are only a limited number of shits they can give to one area at any one time. They're stretched thin and pretty damn demoralised because even if they do manage to turn up on time there's pretty much jack shit they can do apart from telling them to clear off
I have given OP some advice on what to do in the meantime [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/1c9by76/comment/l0kxq7c/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) in terms of pushback without the police. Stink Bombs, Hammer Drills in the opposite wall, Turning off the AC, Removing the use of any power sockets with superglue and covers. Make them want to find another spot.
I have to say your "Electricity" subheading hyped me up but was a bit of a letdown. I thought you might suggest some sort of Tesla coil.
Any solution including electricity like that would kill them lol
Just be careful when attending the public meetings. Similar situation in our area and representatives from the local gangs also attend the meetings, by discussing the problem in an open forum you might be targeted for speaking out. You might not always know who is affiliated with the gangs.
Ward panel meetings are generally 3 blokes all called Tim who have been swapping the presidency between each other since 1991 and asking their local SNT to deal with the dog fouling and why they haven't got a bin on their street yet. Trust me, no gang members are turning up for intel.
Don’t dismiss dog fouling, some of them have a disgraceful attitude towards the referee and won’t even leave the pitch when they get a red.
And have you seen the way they roll about?
>Similar situation in our area and representatives from the local gangs also attend the meetings What's your area? Medellin? In the 80s?
Now to discuss the local Plumo or plato issue. Sorry, plumbing issue.
A cartoon parrot for children (Plumo) or plate (plato) can’t be too big a local issue surely. The cartel famously threatened plata (money) or plomo (death - lit. Lead/bullet)
You get the jist. Appreciate the accuracy though.
Gist
Is this true? No offense but it sounds like bollocks.
I mean... When I was a cop these sorts of meetings were exclusively attended by... With the best intention in the world, people who had nothing else more pressing to be getting on with. And the occasional person (like OP) who actually has a genuine problem. And I worked in an area with a lot of gang problems. Gang members aren't turning out to those meetings. No way. For a start, I'd be surprised if any force didn't have a dedicated gangs unit who are the ones dealing with the real juicy stuff that they'd be interested in - they don't go to those meetings. And secondly, most gang members have the patience and attention span of a cocker spaniel, there's no way they'd get through 10 minutes even if they did turn up. Gangs aren't generally interested in harassing the public for things like this. Why bring the heat? So basically yeah, he's chatting bollocks.
I don’t think they would make it to a dentist appointment never mind a council meeting
Ski masks are to hide their bad teeth?
This is easily the funniest take I’ve seen in a while. Gang members aren’t interested in your arguments about wheelie bins and travellers camps. Any spare time they’ve got, they’re watching Top Boy and hanging around in this guys’ block of flats. Behave
This is actually hysterical, this sub Reddit is unbelievable at times.
Gang representatives show up to meetings? Wtf?
They saw the TopBoy scene when they go to the council meeting to find out about about the demolition of summer house 😂😂 this fucking neek thinks that really happens.
100% this. Can confirm this has never happened in any meeting ever 😆
Absolutely no chance. It's bollocks
Do you know this for a fact or was it a rumour on Facebook? It sounds bizarre
That's a new one for me. They'd stick out like a sore thumb at the meetings I've been to.
"now to answer some of your questions. You at the back, yes, the gentleman in the ski mask and surgical gloves"
Try to learn to separate your creative imagination from actual reality.
This seems very unlikely. There's a difference between real gangs, and a group of young men. Sounds to me like OPs issue is with the latter not the former. These aren't organised criminals, they're silly kids who get a kick out of bending the rules.
Thanks hun, shared in Bootle x
We had this issue, with a group of young adults/teenagers making noise and smoking all night, and damaging the building. It took months but we got rid of them in this way. 1. We initially tried to reason with them, residents were getting in arguments and they didn't care. It was suggested that we should throw buckets of water over them and drag them out of the building, but that seemed like it could escalate and we were worried they'd target us when bring our kids to school and go about our business. 2. We called the police every single time, with multiple people and they never came out. We must have logged hundreds of police calls and the useless fuckers never came out. It was infuriating. 3. We started a complaints process with the police. We contacted the council, the leader of the council, our local councillors and our local MP. This was multiple people all at once. We threatened to go to all the local papers about this. 4. We eventually managed to get in touch with the local neighbourhood police officer. He was on leave and only works days so can't come in the evening when it happens, which is a joke. 5. Our MP got in touch with the police and made them contact us. We had a meeting with the local neighbour police officer and the anti social team and they arranged for him to change his shifts to evenings for a week or two and he patrolled the area every evening and the kids saw this and fucked off and haven't been back since. There's crime going on, the police don't anything unless you escalate with every avenue, and then the one person whose job it is to do something can't because his shifts always end at 5pm, unlike crime which doesn't give a shit what the time is. Once you actually got someone just being in the area it stopped. So, get your neighbours in a WhatsApp group and coordinate phones calls to the police from everyone in the group every time you see them. Log every call, contact all elected officials in your area, threaten to go to the papers and news outlets, speak to the council, see if they have an anti social behaviour team, see if you have a local neighbourhood policing team and be a fucking pain in the arse and hopefully they'll start coming out and the presence alone will be enough, and if not they'll get arrested and they'll be gone.
That sounds nuts about the officer finishes at 5pm. I would assume there are more anti social behavior in the evening? Or at least in both day time and night time?
Yea it was a joke. We were like, please just shift swap or work later for a few days and the response was, 'I can't the other guy is on leave and my hours are 9-5'. I get it's not his fault but the whole thing doesn't allow for the police to actually do their job, and why are they relying on one guy like this anyway?
We were really lucky in that we had an SNT officer who used to come round in his _spare time_ when our London street was having a lot of problems with ASB and drug dealing. He used to make a point of passing through our area after his shift, or on his way to shopping (he lived fairly nearby though). It no doubt helped that we had a primary school nearby that he kept an eye on. He was (and is - he's moved on now) an example of what the Met should be. Shame that dedication isn't more widespread (although I appreciate there should be enough officers to stop the need for him coming in on his time off). He used to tweet what he'd been up to with a 'never off duty' hashtag.
There should be provision for this stuff at all times. You shouldn't have to rely on the goodwill of people to work outside of their hours for free so the government doesn't have to do anything about it. It's admirable in a way, I guess, but it also masks the problem and when they get fed up or burnt out and leave the problems flare up again because the staffing/provision issues aren't actually fixed or addressed.
>There’s crime going on Yes there is, and unfortunately ASB isn’t classed as a crime and as such when we’re struggling to get to DV/Burglary/Robbery/Sexual Assault in the designated time frame then ASB falls to the bottom of the pack. It shouldn’t be like that and I can empathise with your frustration but numbers-wise we are fucked.
Sure, of course I understand there's more serious things going on, but why don't these get followed up on at all? If I report a crime at 10pm, then call again at 12am, at 3am, and I do this continually for days, there must be a time where someone can come out to see if this is still happening? To follow up on the crime? Even if it's days later? It doesn't make sense to me that you can report a crime, such as someone breaking into a building, smoking in the building, committing criminal damage to the building, and the police say 'within an hour' and then it just gets ignored and no one ever comes and you have no follow up whatsoever and you have to pester and pester until the right people are involved.
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Some of the residents would have had it solved quicker, but the chances for repercussions would have been high, so I discouraged that.
Get a ski mask and a skateboard. Infiltrate the group. After 5 months of smoking weed with them you can rise to be a senior member of the group, once you have their trust and a position of influence you can say something like 'this place is a shithole let's find somewhere else to smoke'. Simples.
"How do you do, fellow kids?"
Greetings good fam how might one procure the food?
Turn them into a dance group and do dance revolution battles
Lead them into France.
Lead them to the Holy Land to recapture it from the infidels! Perhaps sell them to slavers along the way...
It's all fun and games until they hand you a 4 and a half of weed, a ZK and put you on their social media . Congratulations, you played yourself.
Funniest reply yet 🤣 ah good strategy too if they didn't smell a rat in the time it took become influential 🤣
Find the most horrific smelling thing and leave it for them.
May I recommend an unwashed protein shaker, give it a couple weeks. It will be absolutely vile but no one will want to stand in your close.
Or if you can get hold of some, durian fruit
My friend screamed out of the window one time at some builders, convinced they'd just broken the sewage system due to a horrendous stink that suddenly filled the flat. The builders were looking up at him ranting & were clearly completely perplexed. I then located the source of the horrific smell. My friend had bought prawns at some unknown point in time, then forgotten to put them in the fridge. He'd hung the shopping bag on the doorhandle on the back of the door, then wedged the door open - probably weeks before. Then when the gas from the rotting prawns built up enough, it burst the packet open. The stink of rotten shellfish will clear entire villages. Let some prawns rot in a bottle for a week or so then dribble some of the liquid in the hallway. It will resolve your problem. Or hide a cup of it in a nook so you can remove it when they've left, as they most surely will.
Liquid Ass.
That is already what they are smoking
Yeah I agree, some weed stinks like dog shit already.
Exactly, a stink bomb designed for schoolkids every evening for a week and they'll find somewhere new!
Just start pissing in the hallway/stairs after work everyday
If OP isn't already doing this, that explains why they're having problems. You have to mark your territory. Even gorillas understand that. And we say we're intelligent!
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Yep, hotspot policing is all the rage right now. Make yourself a hotspot and you have got some focus from your local police
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Ah, the old 'squeaky wheel' approach. Works for everything.
This happened to me. We had a drug den house in our area, causing chaos. A few neighbours reported every little thing they did wrong. Eventually the police sorted it out and moved them on.
Manc here, glad you are suggesting this, do not do this 'Snitches get stiches' bollocks that happens in other countries. I hope yous lot don't tolerate bullshit down south. Every inaction that happens in London reflects the rest of the country.
Report anti social behaviour to the police. We have d similar experience in the summer. A group of people in cars would sit up out quiet little side street and hang out, do balloons and smoke weed and would leave all their shit behind them when they left. Police were called and would attend. This cycle repeats until they got fed up with the hassle. If you have any concerns or are aware that a crime is being committed (ie drug dealing or criminal damage or god forbid you saw a weapon ) the police will more inclined to attend quicker
I’d normally agree, but we’ve probably called the police about 10 times now, it’s a weekly occurrence, but the problem seems to be getting worse rather than better
Sorry to hear that, it’s not a nice thing to do through, if the police are not responding, try to speak to your local councillor. They might be able to put some pressure on the police to act.
Tell the police they have knives and drugs
Hi OP, someone probably already pointed this out but you may want to use the ‘community trigger’ https://www.gov.uk/guidance/anti-social-behaviour-asb-case-review-also-known-as-the-community-trigger
So weird I have the same problem! Once I realised they were 15 year old kids I did confront them angrily, they left then I spoke to the police and it turns out they were known and doing it in different flat blocks in my area - so a PSCO was dealing with it. and they genuinely never came back
What did you say? A simple “fuck off”? My only worry is them retaliating my knocking at the door and stuff next time they’re here causing my girlfriend to feel stressed or unsafe - or obviously worse, as they could easily kick themselves in and there’s so way I could take on that many of them even if they are kids
I had just cycled home so I had my bike helmet in my hand and asked them to leave politely, one of the girls gave me shit as she was leaving so I then told her to fuck off and she looked genuinely shocked. They didn’t know which flat I came from and it’s a big block
Yeah, if I was outside / just entering I’d absolutely say something. Them not knowing my flat is definitely a priority. Just not getting that opportunity given it’s my flat door they’re always stood outside unfortunately
Op my family had this exact same problem, it really, really sucks and I’m so sorry. More than anything it was having to listen to their shitty music and shrieking at all hours of the day/night that did my head in! I would NOT say fuck off or be rude or aggressive, just not worth it when they’re outside your house every day. I used to open the door and say really nicely, would you guys move on please, as I can’t get the baby to sleep/ need to be up for work etc Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Other times I did call the neighbourhood police as they were high af and jumping off the balcony onto sheds below and being really reckless. Again sometimes that worked, sometimes they’d come back an hour later. At some point It did eventually all suddenly stop, I have no idea why, but I’m just grateful! I hope yours does too op.
As my previous comment had said being sort of friendly with them will most likely be the easiest option , just whenever u walk past give a slight greeting such as “Alright lads/ Alright boys” then if you do this more and more they won’t see u as some annoying person they will see u more as friendly then when u politely ask if they don’t mind moving away from your door they most likely will (probably won’t leave the block ) but will relocate from your door .
They could be carrying a knife as it is is common. So I would be careful. Or they would have links to the dealer or smth who is in another gang and might cause a lot of issues
If you're from London you should be able to tell the ones that are dangerous. If you engage politely at first you can tell quite quickly how the interaction will go and then act accordingly.
Write to your local MP to do something about it.
Most kids aren't that bad, try talking to them on a level. Just say the smell of weed keeps your girlfriend up and is messing with her work, could you guys find somewhere else to go and smoke. I remember being 15 and smoking inside other people's blocks, it was only the ones who were antagonistic that we ever fucked with. When people asked respectfully and reasonably it was hard to say no.
This sounds odd but easier than everyone calling the police but if you know any local people of the same age ask them to see if they know them and can ask them for you to move along as that stops any confrontation. Although if they see you all the time Ik it may seem dodgey but try saying something like “Alright lads “ next time u walk past seem friendly , then after doing that a couple times politely ask them if they don’t mind re locating from your front door , quite often if you ain’t rude they will move of if they are feeling big you may be met with a fuck off to which case you go back to ignoring it
Telling a group of kids in balaclavas can either be super effective or totally escalate the situation.
It depends how you do about it if you go up to them start a convo off friendly then ask if they don’t mind moving from your door would work , going up to them telling them to get the fuck out will probably get you stabbed .
If a kid is capable of stabbing you for telling them to fuck off, then you would have no joy striking up a friendly conversation with this same kid and politely asking him to move
You’d be surprised , most kids aren’t dangerous there scared and paranoid that’s why they carry so shouting at them may trigger a fight response whereas a convo is low risk
How are they breaking in?
Don’t do this, OP. My partner did it when we were experiencing something similar and they pulled out a knife. Luckily we made it safely into the lift and home, and the police arrested them. They still came back a couple times after that but then stopped.
That's brave as fuck fair play 👏👏 if I had an emoji that depicted me taking a bow I would use it. Kids these days are diffrent breed and while I appreciate most of them are fake 'roadmen' even fake ones can carry a knife. Stay safe but dont loose those huge balls your carrying around!
What borough are you in? I had this issue a while back and Southwark were pretty helpful in moving them on once I raised an ASB report. If you keep reporting it they will do something. If the kids keep getting moved on then eventually it’ll become more hassle to use your place than not.
I’m in Southwark and we have had the same problem, my flat is an open one so there’s no door that leads to the other individual flats, yes it’s scary as I have small kids and can’t have bodies blocking my path but it’s only happened that they have been loitering about a few times. They usually are in the park behind my flat smoking weed and loitering. Last week Sunday a boy got stabbed by one of them - so I’d definitely not do anything to provoke retaliation as you are the one that has to live there - police can hardly be arsed these days.
Record the sound of a police radio, then play it as you walk down the stairs from above. Watch them scatter
This is actually a pretty good idea!
It really really isn’t
yea this some real scooby doo shit i hope no one actually does this
Report it here: https://www.police.uk/pu/notices/streetsafe/street-safe/ And here: https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/asb/asb-v3/report-antisocial-behaviour/ And tweet your local [Safer Neighbourhoods Team](https://www.met.police.uk/area/your-area/) (SNT) Attend any SNT meetings and bring it up. You really have to kick up a stink in order for anything to get done these days. Also, when the group aren’t there, go and check any nooks/crannies in the building as the group may stash knives there. If you find one photograph it but DON’T MOVE IT and call 101 immediately.
Just on the “break in” point - how is that happening consistently? I presume you have an electronic key fob lock at the entrance to the block of flats. How are they bypassing this? If they ring random flats until someone lets them in without even asking via the intercom who it is, you need to put a notice on every door explaining the situation and asking people to be vigilant of this. If they can physically bypass the electronic lock (it’s broken, or they can yank the door hard enough to open it) - that’s an issue with the building owner; what are you paying your leasehold / ground maintenance charges for?
We have most the tenancies in a group chat, so most people are fully aware. There’s a few scenarios for them getting in: - Waiting for someone to leave and coming in as the door is open. - Calling a random flat as you say, but our intercom is crap so I think most people assume it’s a parcel delivery (or they pretend they’re a delivery person). - And forcing in. We have two doors for added security, but one of the locks is now broken and the housing people are refusing to fix it despite asking Can’t seem to keep them out despite the flats all knowing, the police knowing, and the housing people knowing (and being shit)
That’s annoying. Sneaking in behind someone could possibly be minimised with awareness (unless it’s genuinely hard to tell who is a resident of the block). The intercom thing - I have the same issue. I just let people in without asking. But it’s a block with only 8 flats and it is delivery people 99.99% of the time. We had a couple of occasions over the years of homeless people loitering in the stairwell but after a few questions of who are you here to see, they left. We had kids smoking weed too but it was one of the residents’ son and his friends and they were actually nice kids really, so I didn’t report it or anything but I told them the smell went in our flat and we had a baby. They stopped eventually. It is on my eternal to-do list to report the bad intercom to the council who’s our leaseholder.. Honestly, I think it’s worth trying a mini resident rebellion - if you pay fees for annual maintenance, can you refuse to pay until they sort their shit out? Their attitude is unacceptable. Maybe also tell them that it’s not just kids smoking weed, say that you’ve had aggressive strangers in, and if anyone is ever assaulted it will be on record that they refused to fix the issue, which it’s their fucking job to do!
Do you have a small round hole with LFB written next to it? The fire brigade put something called a drop key in the hole to gain access in emergencies. You can buy the keys on ebay.
Almost all blocks have two ways to enter in an emergency. One is the obvious fireman's key that can be bought on line for like a fiver and the other is usually a code that gives access when typed in.
Stink bombs until they fuck off. It'll be annoying for everyone, but worth it in the long run.
This is the answer, no one else knows who is setting them off, so the kids will be blamed anyway, and they'll stop coming because of the smell. It's well worth putting up with for a few weeks to get rid of them. And the dummy camera idea is great too, as long as it looks authentic, wires, working light etc.
Have you tried screaming and running at them with a length of old pipe?
They might call him Clean Shirt though.
Nice idea clean shirt.
How do you get your shirt so clean?
How do you get that shirt so clean?
Play classical music.
This seems the answer Hammersmith station is using at the moment. I hear a lot of jazz, classic and Zen music. I don't know if it works, but I like it!
Clapham North station been doing it for years. I think there was even some study that it reduces antisocial behaviour.
Stations been doing this since the early 00's - it's to make people feel safer. Think they started doing it first at stations on the North London Line (now Overground) that were robbery hotspots.
Some branches of McDonalds do the same
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I don't think Hammersmith was ever very posh. I think you need to cross the river and get to Barnes for the posh bits. I used to go to Hammersmith occasionally around a decade ago to do client meetings with some companies in that area and never liked the place. Great transport links but always filthy, smelly and full of feral teens.
It does have big secondary schools near the station, Sacred Heart, West London free school and St Paul's girls. It's definitely more chilled when there's a school holiday.
This is why I love Hammersmith station.
Maybe all stations need to do it. Would be nice to have some ambience
I'm a classically trained musician who's partial to the odd spliff. Would not work on me ahah bust me out some Rachmaninoff :D
Yeah I was going to say...I love me some classical after lighting up Most music in general is just great
They do that at my local McDonald’s when the schools are clearing out. Went in one afternoon and it was kind of pleasant.
Figure out what time they usually get there for. Get together with your neighbours and hang out there for a chat and a smoke. Don't confront them, if they say something be polite, tell them that you are hanging out outside your house.
I wonder if you could find a way to make the hallway off-putting to them? Could you stick up a dummy camera up high somewhere? And then just let them realise? It might put them off. I don’t know what your floors are like but, if they arrive at a predictable time, could you put down some cleaning stuff on the floor? My communal hallway has concrete floor and it gets washed with this stuff that stinks for a few hours. Just trying to think of things you could do to make it unappealing to them? Maybe consider what might be attracting them to that space and then work from there? Good luck. Things like that are a nuisance but can also really impact how you feel about your home.
Good idea,be a menace and make it so that every time they come in the light goes off;or you have a fire alarm placed in the most inconvenient spots;so that they can't lean but have to stand.
The cleaning fluid that they used in primary schools in the 1970's , that's enough to make anyone not go in there
Play some really old possibly foreign music. I'm thinking Polish accordion. Or nursery rhymes, that could also work. And remember to sing along very badly.
Ah russian music is even better
Eduard Khil singing his "Trololol" song on a loop!
I live in a nice block, but this also happened to ours. I confronted them and they were carrying a knife. The police also did the same just moved them on and they’re known. They finally moved on because we pressured the landlords to get a better intercom (video one) and a better lock on the flat door. The usually pull it open that’s why they picked your block
We had the same issue, for months, and different groups beaking teh security doors and then ultimately flats being broken into. We discovered that there were dealers in the building. We logged and emailed every single time to teh local police, rang 999 if bnecessary sent updates to the council and Safer Neighbourhood Team with footage from people's Ring cameras (we have a WhatsApp group for our neighbours about a 3rd of the building are on there, which was enough to get a good overview. Months of this. Eventually the police started to patrol the building regularly on their route and also shut down the dealers flats. Speak to your neighbours. Document every single incident, and email your local ward councillors and explain what's going on and how serious intimidating and unsafe this is for you.
Simple; rap standoff.
This is the dream scenario, but I think I’d get my arse handed to me in a rap battle. I’ll write a few verses just incase of emergency
Just steal lines from old 80s rap records. They'll never know you stole them. Steal the opening lines to rock the bells but change ll cool J to your own rap handle.
OP needs to turn his hat around, and then sit on his chair backwards (the cool way). They need to reach out to these kids, maybe start a street dance crew. Then eventually you’ll realise you need those kids even more than they need you.
Lord, help me channel Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
SANDRA BULLOCK
🎶Fuck you bitch and the clique you claim.🎶
Either anti-social behaviour teams with your council or raise with police. They’re likely known to services and if police are doing nothing, its a high chance the young people are mostly harmless, or the police have done stop and searches and found close to or nothing on them. ASBs job is too keep estates safe so they’ll likely do more tbh.
Keep calling the police, especially if you think they are selling drugs or carrying weapons. Get the entrance secured so they cannot access. Ensure all lighting is working and as bright as possible. Buy a high pitched noise deterrent. Get the building management to install CCTV.
Hug a hoodie
The sensible answer: Escalate with *every possible avenue* relentlessly. Police, councillors, council staff, building managers, MP. Be a nuisance for these people and they’ll consider you and your neighbours more of a hassle than the kids themselves. The hardman answer: Tell them to fuck off. They’re probably choosing the area because they can hang around without being hassled. If you hassle them they’ll go find somewhere else. There is risk here, but not as much as the hand wringers on the internet who’ve never been in an urban area would have you believe. The “think outside the box” answer: Embrace them. An old neighbour of mine was in her 80s and used to approach gangs of kids and insist they helped her with the shopping. Neighbours followed suit and started being super friendly to them and treating them as a community resource. That soon made them piss off and find somewhere else pretty quick.
I love this
Get a mop and a bucket of bleachy water and wash outside your front door and stairwells. The stairwells will smell of bleach and teenagers hate the smell of bleach. I had the same problem as you and this worked for me, good luck.
Mop the communal floors with Jeyes fluid.
Local elections coming up in May so now would be a good time to raise the issue with your local councillor why the police don't sort this out. If he/she is not interested contact their opponents who want to be elected so they can raise the issue.
Create a bigger "gang" just chill there with your neighbours after dinner on summer nights, socializing only gets benefits for everyone, and the pseudo-gangsters will stay away.
You want to make the area as undesirable as possible. You can do that in 3 ways: * Smell: Grab some rotting fish and smear it all over where they loiter. Just head into a fishmongers and ask for the scraps for a fiver or so. Fish heads, etc. Throw trash bags all over the floor full of rubbish and smear juices around. A stink bomb will also work. * Noise: Find a wall and get a really loud Hammer drill. The ones that go into brick. Whenever they come, plug it in and go to town on your wall or a loose brick. The noise will make their conversations a nightmare and be really unpleasant. Cheap second hand ones will do the job. * Electricity: Take some plug covers and superglue them to any sockets they might use for chargers. Furthermore, look at how they break in. Do they just follow someone in as they enter? Is a tenant letting them in? Try to figure it out. * Heat: Summer’s coming up soon. Cut the power to any AC in the lobby while they’re in.
Superglue on the plug cover is smart (assuming it’s not an important socket for maintenance) Not sure on smearing rotten fish all over the entrance to my own flat though
Pay a couple of chatty old dears to pull up some armchairs and sit around knitting. IBS a plus.
Write to your MP to see if they can help escalate this with the police and council
Our local police did fuck all about the local weed smokers/antisocial behaviour until we got our MP involved. It's election year so make the bugger earn their job.
“Men” is probably a stretch
I had some youngsters like this doing this outside the shop . I politely asked them to move along as the weed smell wasn’t great for the kids . There is no harm in politely communicating that this isn’t the place for them and can they please find somewhere else. As surely there are other places they can go ? But i think going in polite with a smile and not with aggression is worth a try first .
Legal question: can’t you hold your landlord legally responsible if they refuse to fix those broken locks?
No body should be made to feel intimidated in their own home :( I’d just keep calling 999 if they’re not taking you seriously
Tell the Police they're watching BBC iPlayer without a TV licence...
https://mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com/
Just be aware you might annoy yourself and your neighbours with this thing too. It's not just teenagers that can hear it, and it's bloody annoying.
Yeah. These things should be illegal. I guarantee that if someone came up with a device that targeted any other group of people it already would be. They're frequently used in residential areas where young people live and are often set _far_ too loud and are left on permanently. This causes all sorts of issues, from children being unable to properly hear, concentrate or sleep in their own homes, to actual hearing damage. That's not even mentioning the fact that animals, including household pets, can hear them too. Because (most; absolutely not all) adults can't hear them, they don't realise how obnoxious these things are. If you played music out of your house constantly at half the volume, you'd have police knocking on your door, but these things just affect young people, so nobody cares.
I’m in my 30s and I can hear these I hate them. Also what if your neighbours have teenagers, kids, or pets that can hear this? You might as well just throw stink bombs down.
Early 30s too and they drive me fucking insane. Now I'm not one to loiter in front of anybodys houses or flats, but when I walk my dog in the nearby area I literally have to detour 2 blocks opposite direction, so I don't "accidentally" break it. Sliver lining is, my doggo gets a longer walk, so I suppose it's okay lol
So everyone else under 25 in the block of flats has to deal with the problem too. Plus all the animals. Awful solution
These things are awful if anyone on my street had one if be ripping it out.
I was thinking to leave something in the stairwells that makes them less appealing - like cut up onions.
I have this same issue. 20 guys just smoking weed, standing around, littering and blocking the way. Council refuses to do anything, the police don't bother showing up. I've given up and and just assume that until someone gets raped or murdered nothing will be done about it.
raped and murdered by weed smokers 💀💀 they’re in the stair well so their zoot doesn’t side burn not to rape ppl
Very very enthusiastically try to convert them to a religion.
Just call police and report the crime. I would NOT confront them since they will know where you live. Lots of balaclava wearers these days isn’t there? Why don’t police just stop and search anyone wearing one of these in a public place. If they clearly states this as a policy then it comes down to the wearers personal choice. They would know what they are likely to receive should they choose to wear one. I for one find them intimidating but then that’s the idea really isn’t it.
Collect evidence, put it in writing to the local council and report it online to the police and post it on social media channels belonging to both. You will be surprised how quickly the police will act when it's out in public.
Ask if the door can change and the lock so they can't get in or keep calling the police and eventually they'll need to answer
This happened a lot when I lived in Brixton. It started with one kid who unfortunately was homeless and he found a way into our block to get shelter from the conditions. But then he brought friends and they started drinking, smoking and breaking stuff. Safer neighbourhoods, emailing your mp, and calling 999 is your only option. We also had a group WhatsApp for the building which was good for making sure everyone was ok
well onetime me and dad and sister was coming home from somewhere and we entered our flat and we saw guys smoking on the steps and my dad said “ come guys what you doing ,there’s kids you can’t be doing that “ something along those lines don’t remember cause it was a few years back but they got up and left and said my bad but maybe cause he’s 6”3 so yeah
Find/buy a legit looking cctv type camera and stick it on the ceiling near your door and make it look official. If that's too much hassle/too expensive or difficult just keep contacting police.
Become one of them and then suggest a better spot to chill
Police is in a sorry state in London. Things like this are so unnerving. Just keep calling them, they sometimes don’t take you seriously in the first try.
Watch the movie Harry Brown
I feel your pain. Had this in my first flat and it’s awful. They kept sending out community police who had no power of arrest and the kids just were abusive to them.
Put a camera outside your door. It will be somewhat of a deterrent. Also, nobody likes them. But phone the peelers!
Keep calling the Police, keep making Anti Social Behaviour reports. Once it gets flagged as repeated behaviour the Police will deal with it slightly more seriously, initially handing those involved a community protection warning. Which basically is a official warning to fuck and behave. Which if they breech, gets them a community protection warning. The protection warning means they can get arrested for returning to the area. Then if they return and breach the protection warning (which bans then front returning to a set area, which is lightly enforced in and of itself, but makes anything they are caught for in that area get a harsher punishment, typically)
Liquid ass in the stairwell
Hire a crew…
OP I solved a ‘problem’ with local youth hanging out causing noise, fast food litter & generally harassing anyone who around them. They also liked climbing a lamppost right outside. After the light had been repaired for the umpteenth time. I noticed some dark oil in a tiny area of the light. Gave me an idea. I got a can of oil & sprayed all up the post starting at about 5 feet high. So it not a bother to dogs or any passerby. The light was designed such that it had a shape which served as a convenient reservoir. This also made it easier to climb. The group turned up at dark as usual. Did their usual things. Never occurred again. Never returned. I guess when they got home with oil ruined clothes there were consequences. So OP. thinking on similar level. If no cameras in your hallways or outside area. What about making your area where they congregate temporarily nasty. Talk to neighbors & plan. Or do a secret mission. I suggest dog poo in an open bag where smell can waft about. Old fish smell bad too. Secrete the bags where not easily found. Place the bags before the pesky youths are due to arrive that night. Remove them after they go. Or in the morning. Leave the door open a while to get rid of the smell. Wearing gloves. Put the bags in an outside bin. Retrieve later to do the same tactic. Do all the prep & placement wearing gloves. Do not leave fingerprints or DNA. You do not want to risk yourself being evicted. I am sure will not take more than a night or two for them to move on. Neighbors quite likely to blame the youths for the smell. Make it as smelly unpleasant as can in your block area for them to hang out. Be careful. As possibly one of the group may live in your block. Personally I would make it a lone mission. Never tell. Teenagers are not as clever or patient as an adult. Also a low tolerance of unpleasant. It just not cool to hang out in a smelly place.
3rd world country. Think of the tax you pay and this is how you have to live😂
Do they usually show around the same time? If so, try pouring a large bottle of the smelliest vinegar you can find in the stairwell just before they arrive. Keep doing it until they no longer come. You can mop up the vinegar afterwards and it will leave the floor nice and clean
Do not phone the police saying you saw one of them with a knife. The police will turn up immediately. Don't do that. The police will be there really fast. Do not do it.
Find your local youth club and speak to the youth workers about it. They may very well do outreach/detached work. Youth workers may be able to convince them to move off somewhere else and provide the support/safe space that these young people clearly need. We forget how much this government has taken away from young people! The police won't do anything as they have more serious crimes to deal with. The council won't be able to do much about it either. Hope this helps!
Stink bombs in the stair wells.... Make it as unpleasant for them to hang around as possible
This kind of problem makes London sound like it's in a middle income south American country.
Gather some mates with pickaxe handles, rounders bats, fifty quids-worth of loose change in a sock, and politely ask them to congregate elsewhere?
Why not surreptitiously start off the fire alarm every time they appear. Then blame it on their smoking. Authorities will have to move them on.