What To Do? Neighbor Calls the Sheriff on me for everything!!!

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1. Inviting a 54 yr old felon (who has a thirty year criminal history) into your home? I understand youthful "mistakes", second chances, and helping out the poor downtrodden ex con, but he been getting CONVICTED since he was 24 yrs old. Maybe the father knows best.
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Don't get me wrong ... this guy has never been in my home. If I ever went into the house for anything I would ask him to wait outside and go in alone. No one enters my home unless they are a trusted friend of the family. I can honestly say there are probably only 5 people, other than family, who I would allow inside my home, and 3 of them are in my Lodge.
 
Call the Sheriff's Dept. and set up an appointment with THE SHERIFF, not a deputy. Explain what has been going on and ask him to have the deputies involved come in and explain what is going on. If the deputies side with you, the Sheriff himself should go have a talk with this person. If it does not stop file a lawsuit against this joker. The history of him repeatedly calling the cops with them consistently finding you are not at fault should do it.
 
+1 to calling the Sheriff's dept before you go outside to shoot.

Better for them because it probably will save them the trip and they'll be able to say "yes, we know. He called us. You got anything important to report?" to the neighbor.
 
I'm sorry but I keep laughing just thinking about this...

1. Start a pot of coffee/ Make some lemonade.
2. Get your grill ready in front of your house.
3. Go shoot a magazine or two of .22s
4. Calmly put the gun away, and walk out to your front porch
5. Start grilling some burgers.
6. When the Sheriff's Dept comes, offer them a burger/coffee/lemonade.


Can you imagine what the old man is thinking if he watched the whole thing from his window? He's trying to report you to the SO and they are sitting there eating a burger with you!

hahaha sorry, I keep picturing that in my head and can't stop laughing
 
A suggestion. Of course, you are under no obligation to do this, but a simple way to cut the noise in half is build a couple of walls on either side of your shooting spot - a dozen hay bales and a couple of cheap tarps ought to do the trick.
It may not stop the complaints, but it would show both the complainer and police that you're trying to be a good neighbor.
 
Go out of your way to help him.

Look for reason to be friendly and neighborly.

Invite him over for dinner.

Offer to mow his lawn.

Etc., Etc.



All else fails, and I do mean all else, it DOES eventually become illegal to keep calling the cops on you for no reason.

I'm no lawyer, but (as others have suggested) you may have to file a "Cease and Desist" order and/or file harassment charges.
 
Ask the Deputies the next time they come out what they like to shoot

and that you'll have ammo for them next time.

Easy way is to find out when the neighbor does not want you shooting.. assuming that their is a reason for them calling... they or someone in their home could be trying to sleep or is sick or something you know.

It's a lot easier row to hoe trying to be friends than enemies.
 
It can be difficult to have a good relationship with any neighbor, and especially with one who dislikes you.

I would not be inclined to spend much time or money on an attorney or having a meeting with the CLEO. You don't really have a police or legal problem; you have a social problem.

The solution I like best in this thread is,

Call the Sheriff ahead of time and let him know what you're going to be doing. If they WANT to respond this won't stop them, but if they don't want to respond, this gives them an out. "Thank you for your concern, but we are already aware that Mr. riverwalker76 is shooting/discharging fireworks on his property this afternoon, he called to let us know ahead of time."
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I might amend it with a weekly faxed schedule of the times you plan to shoot. You can follow with a call -- "I know you will get a call about this, so I've given you a fax just to give you a heads up. If you send a fellow out, I'll likely be out behind the barn with my ear protection on, just so you know where to find me."

If the sheriff thinks he is obligated to respond, trying to get him to not respond may appear unduly adversarial and may not be productive.
 
I know your pain, and I feel that your only hope is the SO gets tired of the false alarms and decides to have a talk with the caller. I also have neighbors that call on me for anything under the sun. Never once have I been cited or even shown to be doing something wrong. Officers tell me that no matter what, they must respond. I do however always go to the office about a week or so after the incidents to get a copy of the officers' report, showing in his words, what was actually going on. Since in my case, the department won't give out who the caller was, it is totally up to them to handle this. There are always neighbors that you can't appease, no matter what. Good luck.
 
Rather than talking to the neighbor, which might get him upset or angry and get you another visit for trespassing, send him a letter using certified mail with the return receipt. Include copies of a dozen reports from the SD & a copy of any relevant county laws/regulations regarding noise/fireworks/shooting. If he continues his reports after that, you would have a bit more for the SD or your lawyer to work with.

Certified mail seems to get people's attention for some reason.

Good luck!
 
next time you get ready to go plinking in the backyard, chill some drinks. when the deputy arrives (again), rehash the status, and offer him a duty legal cold drink for his trouble. maybe some munchies he can stash in his car for the rest of the shift. how good a cook is your wife (assume you are married)?

may as well have one person on your side.
 
UPDATE: 26 May 2010


Now the issue has been amplified!

A local Sheriff Dept. Lt. told him that he could have me cited for a noise violation! :eek:

Give me a break! If you have laws that say you can shoot in the county ... one of the outcomes is noise .... unless you want us all to have Class III permits and silencers.

This is getting ridiculous. WIth the Sheriff Dept. saying that ... I'm tempted to 'rally the troops' here in my county and get every shooter in the county down to the courthouse.

Don't they realize that if they cite me for a noise ordinance shooting violation that they leave the door wide open for the next idiot to get his foot in on the same issue?

I'm lost ... and I don't know what to do.
 
It's time for you to talk directly to the Sheriff.

Find out exactly what the noise restrictions are in your area.

Find out if shooting on your property during the day would be a violation of those noise restrictions.

If you need to, go to the county attorney or county board of supervisor's office for a copy of the specific codes.

Until you get an exact handle on what is and what is not allowed, you're just flailing.
 
I've read the state laws regarding the noise violation issue, and it basically states that it has to be an 'excessive' or 'untimely' noise issue. In other words .... shooting for hours at a time or at 2200 hours.

With me firing 2 or 3 magazines 2 times a month that hardly constitutes excessive in my opinion.

What are your thoughts? If he decides to take it any further then wouldn't he have to try and change a law or ordinance?
 
Our thoughts are meaningless, at this point.

Go find out exactly what your COUNTY ordinances say. Don't rely upon any State statute, unless the State has preemptive control over local ordinances (in this matter). With that information in hand, then talk to your Sheriff, as Mike has said, and find out the particulars of the neighbors complaints against you.

Time to get off the interwebs and do some foot work.
 
I don't know about your part of the country but around here, I would do the following. Go out around shoot a bunch. it's legal after all. When the deputy shows up, Politly request that you would like to press charges against the neighbor for harrassment.

What will normally happen around here is the deputy will then go to the other guy's house and explain that you have now pressed for charges against him, and will tell the guy since you are doing nothing wrong you have a valid complaint and that if he will stop calling on you then the deputy will see if your willing to drop the charges. It usually solves the problem.
 
No matter what method you use to befriend the deputies use it, out of spite and common sense. Enjoy your new company and giigle your ass off!!:D
If all fails, compile your evidence for a harassment suit. :)
 
As I said before, riverwalker, I think it's time to quit listening to the cheerleading here and take Mike and Antipitas' advice. We're not going to be able to provide what's black and white from our monitors.

Good luck and keep us posted. If there's anything you do take from this thread it would be this: At ALL times, be respectful to any LE personnel and any other public figure you come in contact. Keep your cool and emotions in check. You'll be surprised how far and effective you can go with that alone.
 
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