Question About Whether To Call Cops

[Ravenseye]

Ok i'm not a narc normally. I have friends that smoke pot, I don't report them. I have friends that bootleg off the internet, I don't report them. And so on.

My next door neighbor though...For some reason this bothers me and I've considered calling the cops.

First of all she's a dumbass. I mean like one of those people who buy a huge freaking caddilac for the express purpose of driving in the snow. Why? Cause if she gets into an accident she'll have more steel around her protecting her.

*sigh*

Anyway she has this new enormous car with temporary paper plates on them. My wife and I noticed a week ago they were about to expire. We bet that she didn't even know that they were going to expire. Sure enough I pointed it out to her the following day and she laughed and said something like 'don't even tell me.' Now they're lapsed. Shes till hasn't gotten real plates.

If she hasn't registered the car, inspected the car...she might not even have insured the car. I wouldn't put it past her to 'forget' which means she knows but uses the words 'forget' as if they make it ok.

Should I call the cops? I don't like the fact that she's driving around unregistered, and probably uninsured. For some reason that seems more dangerous than a guy smoking pot in his apartment or downloading songs off of Kazaa.

*edit*
I forgot to mention. Today she told me that she still hadn't gotten plates and that she was going to change the temporary plate from a 1 for the month to a 4....and then laughed.

That's sort of what really pissed me off and made me think about calling the cops. Being a bit late is one thing, but deliberately doing that seemed wrong...wronger..
*end edit*

[Selatius]

1. What you do in your home is your own business

But when it comes to the road, it becomes the business of every single person driving out there.

[Robbien]

2. She will get caught when driving around

and the fines and court costs will run into hundreds if not thousands of dollars. I would say just wait.

[superconnected]

3. I wouldn't

because I just don't call them on people everytime I see something wrong. I consider it bad karma. The cops will get her for driving the unregistered vehicle.

If she were doing something too me I would consider it differently.

I am phone-the-cops-happy on threats to me. I never let someone get away with a threat. That's something most people don't pursue but I always will. I reported sisters neighbor for wife beating and got him arrested and evicted in november. I also called them on an apartment running a crack house in my neighborhood, loud music, a neighbor who put rat poison on my porch and hers because it could have poisoned my cat and she refused to stop, etc.

But I wouldn't just report people because they have an unregistered vehicle or expired tabs. Threaten to kill me, like I said, I'm calling the cops.

[superconnected]

26. I should mention

you'll probably get theats if you report her. I'm pretty sure that's where I've always got mine from :).

[Swamp Rat]

4. No

Let her be.

[benburch]

5. Most likely...

She has plates at the dealer's and has not gone to have them put on.

We had paper temporary plates on my wife's car until three days before they expired. The metal plates were waiting patiently at the dealer for us to diver over there and have them put on.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ravenseye]

15. No She Doesn't

And as I posted in my edit, she's deliberately changing the date on the temporary plate from a 1 to a 4 so she doesn't have to deal with in for 3 more months.

[against all enemies]

6. When John Ashcroft wanted us to spy on our neighbors DUers had a fit.

Now we are asking permission? Sure, call the Justice Department on your neighbor, then start looking around at your friends. Better call about them too, can't be to sure who is up to no good.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Yep

Asscrack's TIPS program reminds me of the Stazi.

[Ravenseye]

16. I'm not spying on my neighbor

I noticed she had a day left to get her car legal, and she laughed it off. After the date came and went she kept driving, and now is changing teh date on the tag.

Thats ok? Why don't we all just get fake liscence plates then. Woo hoo!

[ultraist]

29. No one is saying we should all get fake tags...

Most of us are saying mind your own business. Maybe you are having some cabin fever. Having a three month old and having to stay home a lot is stressful. Believe me I know. I stayed home with my daughter and it CAN make one a bit loopy. Get a babysitter and take a date night with your wife.

I mean really, you are checking out your neighbor's tags! LOL! I spy an expired tag...I spy a burned out tail light...I spy a crack in a windshield...is this a road you really want to go down?

[Vinca]

7. As a former cop . . .

I wouldn't call. They'll pick her up eventually. You don't want them staking out the driveway waiting for her while someone is being murdered across town. On the other hand, if you look out the window and see her staggering into the driver's seat and knocking over trash cans on the way out, call.

[Ravenseye]

10. I forgot to mention something

She told me today she still hadn't gotten the plates, and was just going to change the 1 on the plate to look like a 4, and laughed.

So now the temporary plate date will read April instead of Janruary.

I'm not going to call the cops, but it pisses me off enough that I've thought about it.

[Berserker]

14. My advice would be

let the curtain go step back from the window. Go to your wife look into her eyes and tell her you love her, Then take her out for a romantic dinner and move on with your lives.

[Ravenseye]

18. Well....

...we have a three month old so that's out the window.

Anyway this is a woman who can't drive very well and we have on street parking, not driveways. I've talked to her on the street by her cars, and she parks next to ours all the time.

I could care less what she does in her house. I'm talking about people driving illegally on the same roads I drive on, and cross with my infant. If someone has fake tags, which they essentially are now, and they hit and run, how will they be held accountable? We're not talking smoking pot in your bedroom after the kids are asleep.

[ultraist]

25. GOOD POINT Vinca!

Why waste the cops' time on a victimless crime and OUR tax dollars?

[jody]

8. She might have applied for the tags and the government slow in sending

them to her.

You are reacting in anger because of hate and that often leads to bad decisions. :shrug:

[Ravenseye]

20. Nope

She doesn't have them. She hasn't applied for them. I talked to her. I don't hate her, but this seems dangerous to me.

[yankeedem]

24. She parks on the street?

It's an unregistered vehicle, it isn't allowed on the street. At least anywhere I've lived.

[jody]

34. If she has a "new enormous car with temporary paper plates on them" then

the dealer would/should have submitted the application for a tag. Of course if she purchased from someone other than a dealer that might not be correct but you said it was a "new enormous car".
:shrug:

[Speck Tater]

11. Find out if she's Republican or Democrat.

If she's a Democrat then there's some perfectly reasonable explanation for why she has been unable to get the plates. In fact, it's probably GWB's fault.

On the other hand, if she's a Republican then clearly her intent is malevolent and sinister and there's no excuse for such negligence.

Hope that helps.

[Ravenseye]

21. Non-Voting Republican

Definately ignorant doesn't pay attention but would vote republican. I even tried talking to her before the election but she was hopeless. Luckily she is so spacy she doesn't vote.

[ultraist]

12. I would let it go and not call, so fucking what she doesn't have tags?

Is she really endangering anyone?

Maybe she can't afford the tags yet or maybe she hasn't had time to deal with it. We forgot about our inspection sticker recently and it expired and if my neighbor had called and narked, I'd have to wonder why they were mingling in my business.

[Ravenseye]

22. What if you printed up fake stickers?

What if instead of forgeting your inspection sticker (which I did once....cop pulled me over, I went got it insepected, he tore up the ticket) you printed up a fake one and put it on your car, while talking to you and laughing about it.

What if in addition he didn't like his license plate and made his own vanity plate, not legal or anything and put it on his car, then began driving around and using it daily when he didn't even have insurance for it.

Is that endagering anyone? What about a hit and run? What about her own 5 year old that rides in the backseat with her?

[Selatius]

27. First off, do you know if she has insurance on the car?

If she has insurance on the car and she isn't a habitual drunk driver or suffers from a serious case of road rage, then she isn't any more of a threat on the road than you are. Even if she did not have insurance yet the other two conditions apply, she still wouldn't be any more of a threat than any other driver out there. The only difference is she doesn't have valid tags or insurance (if that is indeed the case).

[pacalo]

17. Mind your own business, by all means. Period.

[Jack_DeLeon]

19. Sure call the police, but dont fool yourself...

you arent doing it to protect others and make the roads safer, you are doing it because you hate the bitch.

[Ravenseye]

23. I don't hate her

It just irritates me though when I had to spend 2 freaking days in the red tape dance to get licensed, registered, inspected, etc, and she just changes the date on her temporary tag.

I'm more concerned for her than anything. She won't listen to reason. This is a woman who had pneumonia recently and kept smoking nearly a pack a day. I don't know how she got better.

[yankeedem]

28. Despite my earlier advice

She needs to be taught a lesson- I think we all agree here. The question is why do you have to be the one to teach it to her?

IMO, and speaking of someone who HATES when idiots do these things, you are making this bigger than it should be in your life.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

30. Don't bother now........

....if you call the cops, she's gonna know it was you what with you asking all these questions about it.

Drop the issue. If she's as forgetful as you say she is, she'll go on doing what she's doing and she'll be stopped eventually.

The only time you should call the police on someone is if they are doing something infringing on your right to privacy, or if you are concerned about someone's safety. The last time I called the cops was on an asshole neighbor (a guy who once complained the local church's bells woke him up and demanded they but shut off) who allowed his high school kids to have a huge graduation party on our usually quiet street (mind you, they only live there in the summer, so apparently he didn't want his "regular" neighbors disturbed.) The kids were out at four in the morning, screaming, talking loud, smashing bottles, making out in the road....on a hot June night with everyone's window's open. The cops broke it up, but I heard the guy out taking to them and he was hardly apologetic (He yelled at a kid who told the cop "F--- the people in this neighborhood"). Nevermind when they left early the next morning, they made sure to continue to be loud as they packed up.....

[Pastiche423]

31. Holy shit, dude

If I only had to worry about a situation as stupid as the one you descibe, I'd be in nirvana.

Gawd I detest such self rightgeous people!

[maumcc1]

32. Let it go

Maybe she doesn't have the money to take care of it now. Is she single or does she support a family? Believe me, in my younger years, I've been in that situation before. Not because I wanted to, but because I had no money, and worried every time I got in the car, I would get picked up by the police. I just recently helped my daughter and her family get insurance and tags for her car. I would never call the Police on someone for that. Do unto others .........

[lectrobyte]

33. I'd let it go. Unless someone is beating the shit out of someone

(like my neighbor dude on his wife every so often, but that's another story) or they are creating some kind of discernable hazard, then why make life even more difficult for someone, even if they are a dumbass?

[achtung_circus]

35. Bear in mind,

If she doesn't have it together to get plates she may be driving an uninsured car. If she (worst case) were to hit someone, that person would have very limited legal recourse. Say a paraplegic sues an uninsured person for medical costs. That person declares bankruptcy. Case closed.

But in the case of an insured car that newly wheelchair bound person has a real live insurance company to hold accountable. That's what insurance is for.

You have a responsibility, personal feelings or not, to the community. Report it and let the police handle it. In my jurisdiction, driving without insurance is an automatic, minimum $3,000 fine, and rightly so.

[SmokingJacket]

36. Nah.

She'll get caught sooner or later, for something.

You'll just feel crappy about it, and rightly so.