Ring and dash pranking by kids in my neighbourhood, what can be done?

worded

Reverse psychology


Replace door bell with a giant gong outside your door and put a note saying you are hard of hearing ...

https://www.gear4music.ie/Drums-and-Percussion/WHD-42-Chau-Gong-and-Adjustable-Stand/OG5?origin=product-ads&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrPf9idnd6wIVQ-7tCh0FEwtqEAQYAyABEgKJGvD_BwE

bobbyy gee

find out where they live and do it back

blueskys

We used to do this as kids on the way home from school. One day a mate rang the door and was running away down the street laughing so much he didn't recognise the house owner walking towards him as she had been down the shops. She had just bought a big bag of frozen peas and hit him a clatter with them across the head, knocked him clean over. There was peas everywhere. She was a big woman. That was the end of that. Still cracks me up though.

pwurple

You're living in a socially deprived area if the parents react like that. Doorbell and rubbish through letterbox now, burning out your car or bin later. They have no idea of how to parent if harassing neighbours passes for "fun", so you can only imagine what these scrotes will be up to as teenagers. I'd hazard a guess the property prices there are low.

Save yourself a few decades of grief and move somewhere better if you can afford it. Leave that type of "fun" to those who enjoy it.

listermint

Magnifiqalex wrote: »

So Garda is no help or no other authority that can intervene?

I do not answer the door but the ringing is what's the problem while my meeting calls are going on which is why it is unbearable.

You've been told it will stop . It's happened for a few days . Give it two weeks of not a answering or just disconnect the bell and leave it at that.

Being honest if you continue on the way you are it will never stop and you will get a name for yourself as the crank to annoy. They are only kids btw they don't think in common sense adult ways or ethically their sole interest is fun and playing around.

I'm telling you in the clearest way. Disconnect the bell. Forget the guards forget legal avenues and forget giving out. It will stop very quickly guaranteed.
Its a prank that's been around since the bell was invented. It's not unique to Ireland. And you won't be the first nor last to have it done. But you'll be in a litany of cranks if you keep going on about it the way you are. That's not disregarding the annoyance but you've been given a guide to stop it. Follow it.

crisco10

Maybe it's been said a hundred times before by other people, but when i was a kid doing this it was literally all about getting a reaction. And our favourite houses were those with most reaction, whether that be chasing us down the road with a sweeping brush or whatever.

The least attractive houses (and the ones never "hit") were the ones where you ring the bell and nothing would happen. Only slightly better were the houses where the door opened a bit and closed again.

It might be too late, but really not reacting is the best thing here.

amadangomor

listermint wrote: »

You've been told it will stop . It's happened for a few days . Give it two weeks of not a answering or just disconnect the bell and leave it at that.

Being honest if you continue on the way you are it will never stop and you will get a name for yourself as the crank to annoy. They are only kids btw they don't think in common sense adult ways or ethically their sole interest is fun and playing around.

I'm telling you in the clearest way. Disconnect the bell. Forget the guards forget legal avenues and forget giving out. It will stop very quickly guaranteed.
Its a prank that's been around since the bell was invented. It's not unique to Ireland. And you won't be the first nor last to have it done. But you'll be in a litany of cranks if you keep going on about it the way you are. That's not disregarding the annoyance but you've been given a guide to stop it. Follow it.

Nice lecture.

"I'm telling you in the clearest way" FFS :rolleyes:

A prank would be ringing it once every now and again. If it's going on constantly for hours on end it is a lot more and shouldn't be tolerated.

Grab All Association

In the movie Dennis the Menace, they put a thumbtack on the doorbell. That’s what works.

Peregrinus

And things that work in movies always work in real life!

SEPT 23 1989

"Ring and Dash"

It's knick knacking

listermint

amadangomor wrote: »

Nice lecture.

"I'm telling you in the clearest way" FFS :rolleyes:

A prank would be ringing it once every now and again. If it's going on constantly for hours on end it is a lot more and shouldn't be tolerated.

Lecture. It's reality.

You can live in cloud cuckoo land if you like but they're kids. Chasing them out the gate or jumping everytime there's a bell will make it continue.

Anyone with an ounce of cop on would disconnect the bell or just not answer it for a while in the safe knowledge it will stop.


But I guess cop on is not common..

amadangomor

listermint wrote: »

Lecture. It's reality.

You can live in cloud cuckoo land if you like but they're kids. Chasing them out the gate or jumping everytime there's a bell will make it continue.

Anyone with an ounce of cop on would disconnect the bell or just not answer it for a while in the safe knowledge it will stop.


But I guess cop on is not common..

Do you dictate your posts in a shouty voice? They come across as being like that.

spurious

We used to do the odd knick knack. The thing was to get a bit of a chase or watch Mr. B***** shout and roar into the darkness.
Nobody responding and we soon got bored of it.

We had limits though and never did it on the house with the lady in the wheelchair.

Panthro

Strategically place some dog shyt on the door bell.

Peregrinus

Listermint is right. The behaviour is attention-seeking; they're looking for a reaction. You give them a reaction, you give them what they want, you reinforce the behaviour.

And, as any psychologist will tell you, intermittent reaction is especially powerful. If you sometimes react to them ringing the bell, that encourages them even more than if you always do. You have to ignore this, and you have to consistently ignore this, and the fact that you reacted in the past is not helpful, because it lengthens the period for which you will have to consistently ignore this before they will finally lose interest.

Your chief weapon here is patience. Do not abandon your chief weapon, however tempting the momentary impulse. The only steps you should take are steps which will make it easier for you ignore the behaviour until it stops, like turning off your bell and/or setting up a webcam so you can see who is at the door before you respond to the bell.

listermint

amadangomor wrote: »

Do you dictate your posts in a shouty voice? They come across as being like that.

No sorry. Perfectly chill actually. You are taking them up that way because you disagree with then. Which is fine it's your prerogative.

Let's get the guards out for nick nacks so... Or maybe send the parents a threatening legal letter...

listermint

spurious wrote: »

We used to do the odd knick knack. The thing was to get a bit of a chase or watch Mr. B***** shout and roar into the darkness.
Nobody responding and we soon got bored of it.

We had limits though and never did it on the house with the lady in the wheelchair.

She was too fast for you. Had wheels !

whisky_galore

Panthro wrote: »

Strategically place some dog shyt on the door bell.

Why not place a flaming bag of dog shít on your own doorstep? Talk about an own goal.

Peregrinus

whisky_galore wrote: »

Why not place a flaming bag of dog shít on your own doorstep? Talk about an own goal.

Yeah. Struck me too that this would only be an option for someone who never had any bona fide visitors or callers coming to the door.

In which case, what need have you for a doorbell at all?

hullaballoo

I am not sure anyone needs a doorbell these days. Unexpected callers are never good news so would you not just remove the doorbell and ignore knocks on the door? Particularly so in the evenings.

...Ghost...

Panthro wrote: »

Strategically place some dog shyt on the door bell.

Result will be lumps of dog shyt being thrown at the OPs house. Why give the scrotes ideas?

I would agree with just ignore it if it just bell ringing, but these little scumbags are throwing rubbish into his his house through the letter box.

I would have a camera installed inside the hallway and out the door. I would lower bell volume, or disconnect it and ignore these things. However, I would be calling to the house of the parent whose kid I have recorded putting rubbish into the house and calmly ask if they are ok with their kid doing this. No need to get confrontational, but any decent parent would be mortified to see their kid doing that and the problem would go away. If the parent(s) don't give a damn, or you live in an area where there is always rubbish strewn across the green, or glass all over the road, then you should move.

Magnifiqalex

I have stopped answering the door, I stopped from day one, I removed the wire from the bell yesterday as well, let's see how it goes. The reason I mention this is because I feel I might have given the feeling that I am answering the door or chasing after them. I have stopped answering after that fake crying girl incident. I am not doing anything, I have put the shades down so that they don't see anything from outside to check if anyone came to answer the door or not. Bell ringing and knocking still continued after that. But I have removed the wire now, so let's see how long they knock.

I am really curious though to know, for everyone commenting it's common prank, yes I have heard of it, I watched the pranks as well, but is there no limit to it. The fact I lay out on knocking and ringing for 4 hours of ten minutes gap, I am not exaggerating, that is exactly how they do it, It feels more of harassment on that level, did you guys do that long ?

Also I just wanted to know if Garda will help in this, I don't want to go to them but I just want to know what I can do in worst case scenario.

Thank you

...Ghost...

Magnifiqalex wrote: »

Also I just wanted to know if Garda will help in this, I don't want to go to them but I just want to know what I can do in worst case scenario.

Thank you

No, they won't get involved. They view these things as a complete waste of their time. They would only become involved if it got serious and someone was assaulted.

Grab All Association

Peregrinus wrote: »

And things that work in movies always work in real life!

When has calling An Garda Síochána ever worked? Glorified traffic wardens. The thumbtack works a treat as I’ve done this.


Mod
Be fair to AGS. Many demands on their time and energy. I have worked for decades as a solicitor in the West. I am aware of many cases where Gárdaí have helped people in many ways

Thespoofer

I know I've posted earlier to ignore etc but if its bordering on harassment then I think I'd react differently.

Few years ago I had a couple of lads doing the same , few rings every night then they upped it to battering our kitchen window with snowballs.

That was it for me, went out, very aggressively told them do it again and I'm going to go up and kick your fu@king front doors in ( pointing roughly up the road even though I didn't know where they lived ). That was the end if it.

whisky_galore

Grab All Association wrote: »

When has calling An Garda Síochána ever worked? Glorified traffic wardens. The thumbtack works a treat as I’ve done this.

In today's litigious society, that prank could well backfire on you.

spurious

Magnifiqalex wrote: »

I am really curious though to know, for everyone commenting it's common prank, yes I have heard of it, I watched the pranks as well, but is there no limit to it. The fact I lay out on knocking and ringing for 4 hours of ten minutes gap, I am not exaggerating, that is exactly how they do it, It feels more of harassment on that level, did you guys do that long ?

That would be well past how long we did it. It used to be a ten or twenty minute job, then we would get bored or get called in. I suspect yours may not be getting called in.

Eleven Benevolent Elephants

I removed bad advice. Apologies if I crossed a line.

Mod
Careful about following such advice

Peregrinus

Magnifiqalex wrote: »

I have stopped answering the door, I stopped from day one, I removed the wire from the bell yesterday as well, let's see how it goes. The reason I mention this is because I feel I might have given the feeling that I am answering the door or chasing after them. I have stopped answering after that fake crying girl incident. I am not doing anything, I have put the shades down so that they don't see anything from outside to check if anyone came to answer the door or not. Bell ringing and knocking still continued after that. But I have removed the wire now, so let's see how long they knock.

I am really curious though to know, for everyone commenting it's common prank, yes I have heard of it, I watched the pranks as well, but is there no limit to it. The fact I lay out on knocking and ringing for 4 hours of ten minutes gap, I am not exaggerating, that is exactly how they do it, It feels more of harassment on that level, did you guys do that long ?

It's not a question of how many hours you have to put up with this, but how many days. Back in the OP you told us that this goes on from 4pm to 8pm, and in post 44 you told us that . . .

. . . it started friday evening and it was fine, i was cool enough not to chase them tll sunday. But by Monday, it was really with the calls, the issues, I was not able to control . . .

So you already know that they will keep it up for two or three days without getting any response from you. As you have responded in the past (and, your post suggests, responded quite vigorously) they will now be encouraged to persist for at least this long, and probably longer, in the hope that you will do so again. So you're looking at days.

The likely pattern is that this will continue for days but, each day, they'll devote less and less time to it as it becomes less stimulating and more boring because they never get a reaction. Eventually it will tail off and disappear. But it's snakes and ladders; f you react at any point you fall back, and they are emboldened to keep trying for longer because you have reinforced the expectation of a response.

Can you call the police? Yes, you can; as previously pointed out this behaviour is in fact an offence. But lots of things are offences, and yet they happen all the time - speeding, jaywalking, shoplifting. Making things an offence is not a magic spell that stops them happening. Realistically, these kids are not going to jail, and they don't have money to pay fines, and this is not a level of misbehaviour that creates the kind of dangers that would warrant the involvement of Tusla. So what is involving the guards going to acheive?

Can you call on the parents? If you can identify them yes, you can, but expect limited results. The truth is that most of the parents on the estate would probably be dismayed if their kids were doing this, but precisely for that reason their kids are probably not the ones doing this. In any group that is large enough, there will be a few people or families that are socially maladjusted or dysfunctional, where the parents either don't care about this or lack the ability to take effective steps to stop it. There are problems there that are not going to be solved by you turning up on their doorstep. So, while this might be effective to rein in some of the kids involved, it may have no effect on others, or even make their behaviour worse.

I get that it's not easy, but ignoriing it is the most effective way to address the problem. Do everything you can to minimise the annoyance, and then cultivate a Zen-like detachment from the problem until it recedes. Your strength here is that you're the grown-up; you can manage and even control your emotional reactions in a way that kids and teenagers simply cannot. So use that strength.

worded

worded wrote: »

Reverse psychology


Replace door bell with a giant gong outside your door and put a note saying you are hard of hearing ...

https://www.gear4music.ie/Drums-and-Percussion/WHD-42-Chau-Gong-and-Adjustable-Stand/OG5?origin=product-ads&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrPf9idnd6wIVQ-7tCh0FEwtqEAQYAyABEgKJGvD_BwE

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