I guess the "crime" you're trying to nail this guy for is harassment? I suspect you'll have trouble in a criminal court with it. Around here if nobody's in immediate danger the courts tend to blow it off. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Most areas have laws in place specifically to deal with this sort of thing. Look up your state's public nuisance, noise violations, etc types of laws and see if there are any that he is specifically violating. What I'd recommend is to first establish a paper trail documenting incidences. i.e. call the police several times a week when he is being unruly and keep a record, maybe get the officer to sign off that he was there or something. Pen a few letters of formal complaint to a pertinent local authority figure (judge, lawyer,police station, sheriff, etc.), and be sure to save a copy of the original document as well as any replies you get. Although these actions will not have any direct effect upon your neighbor's unruly behavior, it will establish a formal documented history which can be used in court when the time comes. Judges *love* to review past correspondence, and you could probably submit copies to the state law examiners afterwards in a character complaint. Furthermore, try to keep a log of *all* incidents of harassment in a hand-written dated journal, and pair up each incident with any relevant video or audio footage (also date/time-stamped). If you take audio be sure to verbally announce the date and time on each clip. Random clips of some guy screaming insults aren't very helpful in court. In other words, I wouldn't prop yourself up on only surveillance tapes. No doubt it will be helpful as a visual aid to the judge, but without a formal paper trail I suspect it would not hold up any legal recourse in court. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob J" To: Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 12:42 AM Subject: [OT]: neighbor harassment > Hi All, > > Long story short: my dad, who is 74 and recently suffered a heart attack, is being harassed by his neighbor. Its been going on over a year, but my parents never wanted me to know, they are loving people that sometimes keep their problems to themselves. I just found out about this today. > > It all started when my dad offered to clean up their yard and mow it for them. > > I spoke to some of my mom and dad's other neighbors today to get a the third-hand account of what has been going on: they have tried to talk to the neighbor in question in a reasonable manor and came away saying that guy is a real jerk. The police have been involved, and have said there is little they can do without proof, of course. Their neighborhood association has had some success in dealing with this guy, forcing him to clean up his yard; but that has only egged him on further in harassing Dad. To add insult to injury, he is an attorney. A very bad one at that. He has been fired from several firms, made some career changes, has made several fraudulent insurance claims, threatens to sue everyone, etc. A real piece of work (and a currently unemployed one at that). What I've gathered today from the conversations I had with some of the other neighbors is that he is trying to piss my dad off enough to get him to haul off and hit him, so he would have grounds to sue. ! > Unbelievable!!! > > This guy literally sits on his porch facing my parents' home, shouting obscenities at Dad to try to get him worked up. He tries his best to ignore him, but the guy won't quit, and it has gotten to him. > > Every fiber of my being right now wants to go over there and kick this guy's ass. I am no couch potato, 32 run/lift weights and would have no problems with him. But that would only play into what he wants, and I'm smarter than that. He is certainly no match in wits with me, either. So doing the right thing is to gather evidence. Two different neighbors have offered to help any way they can, but they are not technical. > > After googling for surveilance cameras, and after wading through the all the pop-ups, its akin to drinking out of a fire hose trying to find a good setup. > > If any of you piclisters have had experience with this stuff, and could point me to some good low cost ccd cameras that have good low-light capability, I'd love to hear about it. I would like to set up three cameras, either b/w or color (whichever one works best in both day and night), and set up a spare pc I have in their garage, and let the pc do the recording. Having sound is a requirement, so is motion detection. I'm debating having them clearly visible; maybe this would get him to stop but it may egg him on even further in a "legal" way. I am thinking I could set up XP on this box, dial into it and take control of it via remote desktop. > > I need to nail this guy. Any help would be greatly appreciated. > > Regards, > Bob > > -- > http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! > email listserv@mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu