A traveling man took to Reddit for opinions after he tried to force the local police to do their jobs. Maybe the same laws don’t apply to close friends? Here is the whole story.
His Pool Complied With Safety Standards
OP had a pool installed at his house last winter. As part of that work, he had to upgrade the fence, gates, and locks around his yard.
Local and state laws require that a backyard pool be blocked off securely to protect kids who might otherwise wander over and fall in. OP complied fully and met all standards.
Recently, OP had to travel for work. It turned out to be a two-week trip and fell during warm weather.
When he got home, OP was shocked to find that the new locks on his gates were broken, and his backyard was trashed.
Damage to Property
OP was relieved to see that no one had broken into his home, but there was enough damage outside that he knew it would cost a decent amount to fix it up again.
Luckily, OP had also installed a high-quality home security monitoring system. With high-definition video, he was clearly able to see what had happened.
Clicking through the video, OP found that about 20 teens had broken into his backyard and staged a pool party one day. It started early and lasted late into the night.
Pool Party Culprits
The faces of the kids were clearly visible on the video, and OP could see just about every move they made.
OP took a copy of his videos to the local police and tried to file a report. The cops didn’t want to take his statement, though, and told him to drop it.
But OP kept pushing until the police finally made a report and took a copy of his security footage.
After that, weeks passed with no word from the police. When OP finally called to find out what was going on, they told him that they hadn’t done anything with the report yet.
Police Didn’t Want Him to Press Charges
Furious, OP threatened to sue the police force unless they took some action. That got them moving a bit, and they picked up the main perpetrators that OP caught on video.
But even though they caught the kids red-handed, the cops tried to talk OP out of pressing charges. By that point, though, he was in no mood to compromise and told them he was moving forward.
In the meantime, OP’s girlfriend found out about the incident, and she told him he should just let it go. His mother said the same thing, and now he feels like all his friends and family are against him.
Drop It
So OP came to Reddit for a different perspective and had his eyes opened to some realities.
Since OP lives in a small town of about 2,000 people, a few commenters from similar communities had some advice – let it drop.
They figured the kids in the video, or at least their parents, were friends with some of the cops. OP might be stirring up a lot of trouble for himself if he causes them to have criminal records.
Instead, the small-town Redditors suggested that OP should go after the kids’ parents for monetary damages.
Find Other Solutions
In an update, OP relates that’s what he plans to do. He thinks he was wronged but doesn’t want a lot of trouble for him and his girlfriend.
Aside from the Redditors with specific advice, almost all of them support OP’s original position.
They say that he did nothing wrong and should be able to press charges against the teens with no bad consequences coming his way.
But even many of them recognize reality might be a bit rougher than that and think he should look for other solutions.
The post He Won’t Let Go of His Pool Party Footage of Local Kids – Why Won’t the Police React? first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Look Studio
Source: Reddit