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So this evening I had the police knocking on my flat door and accusing me of a crime I didn't commit.
One of my neighbours (not sure which) has made a complaint about loud techno music coming from my flat. This is simply not true, but they appear to have given my flat number specifically. I live on my own and am pretty much the quietest neighbour you could wish for.I was actually listening to music on spotify when the police knocked on my door and I had to remove my earphones to answer.
I thought it was all a bit odd and queried whether the police had got the right address. The police agreed that they hadn't heard anything but I got the distinct impression that they didn't believe my claims of innocence. They demanded that I gave them my personal details, so they could log a record of having spoken to me. I am not sure if it was an official warning or not, but i am not very happy about having my details taken.
I'm concerned that I now have a black mark against my name, and it could potentially cause issues if the neighbours were to make another complaint. I am wondering if there is anything that I can do about this.
Currently applying for jobs and the last thing I need is anything that may potentially cause problems with employer background checks or applications for security clearance.
Just as the police were leaving after logging all of my details, somebody started playing music in the flat just below mine. The police knocked on their door as well. It was loud, but I wouldn't have said it was particularly excessive. I could only just hear it in my flat which is immediately above, and there are often plenty of more intrusive background noises from the street and stairwell.
The police weren't taking decibel readings and kept saying to the other guy that they didn't know what the decibel limit should be. As I understand the law a one off occurance wouldn't generally meet the definition of antisocial behaviour anyway. You can't reasonably expect your neighbour to be silent all the time and the neighbour who complained clearly hadn't spoken to the guy playing the music either.
Seems to me that the neighbour who is making the noise complaint is being a bit unreasonable and that the police are overstepping the mark. I always thought the council that normally dealt with noise complaints, but maybe Covid has given the police new powers?
Anybody know anything about police complaints? It's in Scotland in case that makes a difference. Not sure whether it's worth it.
(the police were also not wearing face masks and were ignoring the 2m rule for social distancing.)
Apologies for the long winded post.
In the nicest possible way, you’re overthinking it.
In Scotland the police do deal with noise complaints, so it is part of their job. Taking your details is so they know who they’ve spoken to, nothing more. There’s no black mark against you, and your security clearance will be unaffected. It is quite normal to inform the subject of such a complaint that it’s been made, but it doesn’t mean they think you’ve done anything wrong, they’re just letting you know what’s been reported. The fact that they’ve done that and nothing more suggests they think it’s a load of bollocks too. It wasn’t a formal warning.
If they attend and can hear unacceptable noise, they’ll warn the noisy person first, then go away, and then if it carries on and they’re called again, and it’s still noisy, they might come in, take their stereo off them and charge them. Not relevant in your case as they didn’t hear any noise because you weren’t making any.
Complaints about the police doing things they are supposed to be doing tend not to have a huge amount of mileage.
I am surprised they came round for a single complaint. The usual story with noisy neighbours (not that you were) is that it goes on for ages with nothing done.
Could be worse. When I lived in a shared house we were raided by armed police. One of my housemates let off a banger and the neighbour reported it as a gunshot.
One of my housemates let off a banger and the neighbour reported it as a gunshot.
That's a handy top tip if you actually want the rozzers to turn up somewhere in a timely fashion.👍
Gosh you get good service from the police in Scotland. My tenants complained for years about a noisy neighbour, to the police, the council, managing agent, me...basically did not get anywhere. This was in London tho, the council told them to keep a diary of events and I seem to recall a council chap coming once to measure the noise.
I think I would be sleeping better knowing the police actually do anything. Don't worry about it and stay safe.
Should of wacked on your sound system NWA
Could have been worse OP.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Wichita_swatting#Tyler_Barriss
How is this even a thing?
Could it have been you? i.e. do you ever listen to techno music on speakers rather than headphones? Currently live in a flat and it amazing the way difference types of sound travel.
I suspect the police are probably spending more time doing early intervention work on domestic disputes at the moment as that is where most of us are (rather than causing a nuisance outside pubs and clubs) and our collective tolerance levels are being pushed to the limits at the moment. Probably irrelevant to your situation but there must be cases of knackered stressed key workers desperate for some sleep before their next shift returning home to very bored furloughed neighbours being arses.
You're over thinking it. I got hard stopped by the cops last year in Beamer on the M62 as they suspected I might be a drug dealer.
Shit happens
I was once woken up by heaving banging on the door.
It was the police following up a report of a domestic.
The only noise we'd been making was very much not in anger but not that loud!
It didn't take them long to put two and two together and we got an idea of how sound travelled in the building by listening to the laughter all the way down the stairs.
No evidence, no crime.
Cheers for the replies. It's all very weird as it really has been very quiet round here and I don't even own a set of speakers. Hence my complete surprise when the police arrived complaining about noise.
I live near the centre of Edinburgh and background noise levels are usually pretty high so you don't expect silence, but have been here 5 years and loud music is really rare to hear. It's the quietest block of flats I've ever lived in.
We actually get gunfire noise from the tattoo and fireworks throughout the festival and there are complaints from locals every year. A Jacobite revolution is much louder than the music I heard yesterday, even a mile away and definitely in breach of noise restrictions. Tends to set off a few dogs in the flats too. Strangely enough, the police have yet to storm the castle. Also get lots of racket from seagulls which sit on the chimney yet no seagulls have been cautioned.
I guess that if the police are looking for parties in breach of lockdown at the moment then that makes sense. Still think it's a bit intrusive the police taking details when there is no evidence of a crime.
Mostly though, i don't understand the neighbour's and how they ended up giving the police my flat number in the first place. If loud noise was bothering me, I'd at least try and talk to the neighbours first before calling the police. If they had gone anywhere remotely near the door of my flat it would have been blatantly obvious that there was no noise coming from either my flat or any of the other flats on the same floor.
Having a wooden or laminate floor in a flat in either Dundee or Edinburgh is illegal. Too many complints on noise from above and trouble caused from that.
Still think it’s a bit intrusive the police taking details when there is no evidence of a crime.
They have had a noise complaint. They do not know whether perhaps there was noise from your flat before they arrived. So they ask for your details so they know who they spoke to.
Hypothetically had they spoken to someone who had been causing noise though now stopped - then should the police get a second call later that night after the original cops went off duty the cops who attended the second incident would know who had been spoken to and could deal with the incident appropriately.