It is really awkward

[Terabith]

It's really awkward trying to figure out how to be a visible white presence, offering accountability and documentation when the police are interacting with your neighbors of color without being nosy.  I really haven't figured this out.  I loudly and visibly took out my trash, took out the recycling, brought all the bins to the curb, checked the mail, and then played Pokemon Go in the street in front of my house.  This happens often enough that you'd think I'd have figure it out by now, but I really haven't.  And these are new neighbors, so I don't really know them nor they me yet.  

[Carol in Cal.]

Were the police there each time?

I do sit and watch, visibly, sometimes.  I also have stopped and offered myself as a witness a few times after traffic accidents.

The neighbor that I have watched the police for knows that I’m at least a benign presence for him because I have also brought him apricots from my tree a few times.  We have never talked about the police thing, but one time when I came home very late (1AM I think) the block had 4-5 police cars and he was sitting on the curb.  One police car was blocking my driveway.  I could have just parked on the street, but instead I sat there with my headlights on the situation, for quite a long time, until it ended.  At one point a police officer came over to see why I was there, and I pointed out my driveway.  He told me that they were not going to move for probably a long time, and I thanked him, and stayed.  Our police force is not one of the really bad ones, but it was clear that they were really POed at the neighbor, and I think at least one of them was kind of baiting him to try to get him to do something stupid so they could respond.  

 

Edited June 22, 2020 by Carol in Cal.

[Ausmumof3]

3 minutes ago, Terabith said:

It's really awkward trying to figure out how to be a visible white presence, offering accountability and documentation when the police are interacting with your neighbors of color without being nosy.  I really haven't figured this out.  I loudly and visibly took out my trash, took out the recycling, brought all the bins to the curb, checked the mail, and then played Pokemon Go in the street in front of my house.  This happens often enough that you'd think I'd have figure it out by now, but I really haven't.  And these are new neighbors, so I don't really know them nor they me yet.  

Can you go introduce yourself at some point?  I suck at neighbour relations dh does all that but it feels like you’d be in a better situation if you knew them.

[Terabith]

Just now, Carol in Cal. said:

Were the police there each time?

I do sit and watch, visibly, sometimes.  I also have stopped and offered myself as a witness a few times after traffic accidents.

 

Yeah, I only do this when the police are there.  It isn't always THESE neighbors.  Our block is probably 2/3 people of color, 1/3 white, but most of the white people are super elderly.  I usually see the police interacting with someone 2-3 times a month, but it's not always the same family.  

I usually do try to get to know new families, but there's a LOT of turnover, and the pandemic has made me reluctant to knock on people's doors with cookies.  I probably should do it anyway.  We've just been pretty strictly social distancing.  

[Terabith]

1 minute ago, WendyAndMilo said:

Can you just go stand out there and watch the situation so that the police know they are being watched?  The reason the officers think you are watching doesn't matter.  You can explain yourself to your neighbors afterwards or offer them a smile, like "I've got your back".

Honestly, that's probably what I should do.  It's definitely what I do with the neighbors I know.  Really, I need to just knock on the danged door with some cookies.  

I really DID need to take out the trash and recycling, but it's not usually a 20 minute affair.  

[City Mouse]

I think it is perfectly normal to be curious when there is police activity nearby (even before recent events). I always go outside and look when something is happening at a neighbor’s house. I think if you want the neighbor to be more comfortable with the situation, then you should probably introduce yourself.

[....]

My neighbors are Syrian refugees who were targeted by ISIS and they're terrified of police.  When the police wanted to come into their house, I just walked across the lawn and followed everyone inside.  *shrug*  And no, I didn't know them very well, either.  I just barged in there uninvited.  I know typing this makes me sound like a nosy jerk, but when the police left, the lady had tears in her eyes and gave me a huge hug.

What no one knew is that I actually speak Arabic and I used to live in the Middle East.  The adult refugees don't speak English.  I walked into their house in case the doo doo hit the fan and they needed an adult to translate.  I wasn't trying to be a nosy jerk. 

[Terabith]

2 minutes ago, Evanthe said:

My neighbors are Syrian refugees who were targeted by ISIS and they're terrified of police.  When the police wanted to come into their house, I just walked across the lawn and followed everyone inside.  *shrug*  And no, I didn't know them very well, either.  I just barged in there uninvited.  I know typing this makes me sound like a nosy jerk, but when the police left, the lady had tears in her eyes and gave me a huge hug.

What no one knew is that I actually speak Arabic and I used to live in the Middle East.  The adult refugees don't speak English.  I walked into their house in case the doo doo hit the fan and they needed an adult to translate.  I wasn't trying to be a nosy jerk. 

I'm so glad you did that.  

[OH_Homeschooler]

28 minutes ago, Fifiruth said:

It took me half way through the thread to realize that you wanted to be a “white presence” to supposedly protect the neighbors from the police. 

As the daughter of a sheriffs deputy who quit after he couldn’t save a man who was burning to death in a car wreck and was begging my dad to shot him, I find your attitude (that officers are dangerous and evil) offensive.

As a friend of a police officer in our church who had the horrible experience of searching for a missing child only to find her dismembered body in a bag in a field, I find your attitude offensive.

As a friend to a woman who married a cop who volunteers every holiday to work the DUI checkpoints because of his passion to get drunk drivers off of the streets, I find your attitude offensive. She and the kids spend the holidays without him home; it’s a sacrifice the whole family makes.

Try getting to know some local officers. You may just find that they are decent, regular people who are trying their best and end up suffering through a lot of horror, danger, and hate on a near daily basis.

 

It sounds like your dad and friends take their jobs very seriously and always try to do the right thing. So I am confused about why you would be offended by this thread. Have you seen the news lately? There is a lot of evidence that many police officers do a lot of bad things to people of color. Terabith is wanting to do no more than to help prevent some of those bad things from happening by simply being present.

I find it offensive that someone would be okay with allowing those well-documented incidents to continue. 

Edited June 22, 2020 by OH_Homeschooler

[Terabith]

30 minutes ago, Fifiruth said:

It took me half way through the thread to realize that you wanted to be a “white presence” to supposedly protect the neighbors from the police. 

As the daughter of a sheriffs deputy who quit after he couldn’t save a man who was burning to death in a car wreck and was begging my dad to shot him, I find your attitude (that officers are dangerous and evil) offensive.

As a friend of a police officer in our church who had the horrible experience of searching for a missing child only to find her dismembered body in a bag in a field, I find your attitude offensive.

As a friend to a woman who married a cop who volunteers every holiday to work the DUI checkpoints because of his passion to get drunk drivers off of the streets, I find your attitude offensive. She and the kids spend the holidays without him home; it’s a sacrifice the whole family makes.

Try getting to know some local officers. You may just find that they are decent, regular people who are trying their best and end up suffering through a lot of horror, danger, and hate on a near daily basis.

I have family members who are police officers.  I am well aware that many are decent people doing their best.  But two weeks ago, at a completely peaceful protest, police shot tear gas into the crowd and a four year old child in our community was hit with a rubber bullet.  When that is the community and social culture, it is completely reasonable for people of color to be fearful of interactions with the police.  I figure having witnesses keeps everyone safer, including the officers. 

Edited June 22, 2020 by Terabith

[Tanaqui]

31 minutes ago, Fifiruth said:

It took me half way through the thread to realize that you wanted to be a “white presence” to supposedly protect the neighbors from the police. 

As the daughter of a sheriffs deputy who quit after he couldn’t save a man who was burning to death in a car wreck and was begging my dad to shot him, I find your attitude (that officers are dangerous and evil) offensive.

As a friend of a police officer in our church who had the horrible experience of searching for a missing child only to find her dismembered body in a bag in a field, I find your attitude offensive.

As a friend to a woman who married a cop who volunteers every holiday to work the DUI checkpoints because of his passion to get drunk drivers off of the streets, I find your attitude offensive. She and the kids spend the holidays without him home; it’s a sacrifice the whole family makes.

Try getting to know some local officers. You may just find that they are decent, regular people who are trying their best and end up suffering through a lot of horror, danger, and hate on a near daily basis.

 

Or you might find out that they get offended and butthurt if people say that we should remove the bad ones, quickly, before they spoil the whole barrel. Which in many places they've already done.

[Skippy]

I really do feel like you have the right intentions on this, so I want to respect your feelings and not be too harsh. But if you are not careful, this could easily come across as something similar to someone acting with a white savior complex. I don't think that's your intention, but it could come across that way.

[katilac]

dupe

Edited June 22, 2020 by katilac

[katilac]

2 hours ago, Fifiruth said:

  I find your attitude (that officers are dangerous and evil) offensive.

Observing public servants at work does not equal thinking that they are all dangerous and evil.

Do you think that your city council should be able to meet and vote privately? If not, does that mean you think they are all corrupt and evil? 

Has it occured to you that an observer could help protect the police officer from unfounded accusations? 

2 hours ago, HeighHo said:

You need to know what is going on.   My neighbors that have frequent police interaction are a mix of domestic violence, drug trade,child trafficking, and sex offender.   

And every single one of those people have civil rights that should be protected. Observing police interactions that are occuring on a public street is not supporting criminals. What do you imagine the police would be doing when no one is watching that they can't do when someone is watching? 

2 hours ago, Medicmom2.0 said:

I guess I’m wondering why the police are on your block so much?   

My neighbor is from Jamaica in our super super white community.  

My point is that before getting involved I’d try to find out what is going on first. Sure, they could just be out there harassing people, but police presence on your block that often would alert my suspicions towards drug activity, or a known person who’s willing to give the cops information so when something happens they swing by for the word on the street.

Again, what would the police be doing when no one is watching that they can't do while someone is watching? If they can't safely meet with an informant if a neighbor is watching, then they should have the sense to not be meeting with them on a public street. 

Why are the police on her block more than your block? I think you answered your own question in your next paragraph: our super super white community

Edited June 22, 2020 by katilac
wrong word

[katilac]

2 minutes ago, kdsuomi said:

 

Except, she didn't say she would observe all interactactions or that the neighbors should observe. She wants to do so because she's white and somehow thinks that makes the officers care more. That's a very offensive viewpoint and 100% does ring of white savior syndrome. Don't worry minority neighbors, your all powerful white neighbor is here to look out if you. If that happened to any if my many non- white relatives, they would be absolutely offended at the thought. 

(I've been one of the only white people on the street, and the only time the police were there was when there was a shooting. Non-white residents doesn't have to equal increased police presence.)

I wasn't addressing the OP's personal motivations for observing, but rather the idea that it is somehow not supportive of the police and/or crime fighting to intentionally observe them in public. 

Non-white residents doesn't have to equal increased police questioning, but it often does. I use the term police questioning rather than presence, because of course many people would welcome more of a police presence in the protective sense. I didn't use it in my prior post because I was quoting (paraphrasing) another post, but I should have clarified. 

[mom2scouts]

Reading this thread has me wondering what kind of neighborhood you live in where your neighbors have so much contact with the police. In 23 years, I've never had to be a "visible white presence" for any of my multiple black neighbors. If I saw the police at any of my neighbor's houses, I'd think they'd called the police themselves because they had an issue (theft, vandalism), but 99.99% of the time when I see my black neighbors, they're going to work, hanging out with their kids, or doing house and yard work. Thinking that the white neighbor has to be present to save the poor black victim from potential police abuse is what's racist. Heck, even when I lived in the historically and predominately black neighborhood, white familes were just as likely, if not more likely, to be having a negative interaction with police.

[Terabith]

I don't know why there is so much police activity on our block.  It's not with the same household over and over.  I know most of the neighbors very casually, but we have a lot of rentals and a lot of turnover, and I don't know any of them well.  There was one family that had a lot of police activity....a gun was fired at least once, and the neighbor on the other side of them was a self avowed white supremacist.  Both of those families moved out a year or so ago.  Now there's police activity 2-3 times a month.  I'm at home most of the time, so I have a pretty good feel for about how often they are around.  I don't see people getting arrested.  I'm not seeing or hearing violence or fights.  I generally feel like everyone deserves privacy, and I try not to overhear anything.  Mostly they just stop, talk for awhile, and then leave.  

As to what kind of neighborhood we live in, it's a neighborhood with a monolith and a ninja that practices on street corners.  It's an interesting neighborhood, but I have no complaints with any of the current set of neighbors.  I'm trying to get to know Putin's older brother, but I can't ever seem to catch him.  99% of the time, my interactions with neighbors are just neighborly.  They're just going to work, playing with their kids, working in their yard, getting their mail, taking out the trash, going for walks, working on cars.  We wave and say hi and I talk about how fast their kids are growing up.  

I'm soooooo not trying to be a white savior.  I have no moral or other authority.  But I do know that the police interact differently with us, the white, college educated, two parent family who are friends with the vice mayor and have friends on city council who have been here for 12 years than they do with many of our neighbors.  I'm known for writing letters and making calls to government officials.  I'm not saying the police are inappropriate in any way.  Mostly what I have seen have been police being professional and polite.  But they are condescending to many of my neighbors in a way that they aren't to me.  And it's a scary time to be interacting with law enforcement, and I was very disappointed in what I saw from our police force at a recent protest.  I figure I have built in systemic advantages that I've done nothing to deserve, and I'm a mom at peak Karen level of power.  I figure everyone behaves better when they know people are watching, especially people who they know are not shy about speaking up.  Other neighbors have said they appreciate having witnesses.  Because of the pandemic, I don't know these new neighbors or what they prefer.  I'll remedy that.  

[katilac]

Are some people really not aware that some neighborhoods have more police activity than others? For whatever reason. 

[Terabith]

Okay....the story about why I started paying attention and trying to be a visible witness whenever I notice interaction.  

About six years ago, during the day, there were a ton of kids playing outside.  Maybe 12 or 13 between about 18 months and 12 years of age.  Kids were riding bikes and big wheels, drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing with nerf guns, playing in a plastic wading pool.  Cop car turned onto the street, driving very slowly, probably because of all the kids playing in the street.  But it was like a switch flipped.  Every child of color over the age of three INSTANTLY dropped whatever they were holding and put their hands in the air.  All the white kids ignored the police car.  But the black and Hispanic kids looked TERRIFIED.  

It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen, and it was the day I felt in my bones that my experiences with authority and theirs were dramatically different.  

Just now, HeighHo said:

 

How are the PD showing that they are superior?

Are the neighbors unimpaired when interacting with the police?  

It's just a tone of voice in the police officers.  Honestly, I'm not great at telling when people are impaired unless I know them well.  Former neighbors, yeah, I would guess that they were impaired sometimes.  They had loud, raucous parties, and I was never surprised when police showed up, especially when paired with the absolute asshat of other neighbor who told my husband, "The only way to get rid of people LIKE THAT is to call the police all the time on them."  (That man was horrible.) 

Current crop of neighbors.....not obviously.  I mean, I wouldn't swear they hadn't had a beer, but nobody is acting impaired or intoxicated.  Nobody is loud and obnoxious.  Never seen any of them have any fights.  Honestly have never seen any reason for any interaction.  I mean, heck, maybe their mothers are calling and requesting welfare checks because they didn't call her that week.  I honestly have no idea.  

[SquirrellyMama]

3 hours ago, katilac said:

Are some people really not aware that some neighborhoods have more police activity than others? For whatever reason. 

Yes, we are aware, but it is not part of our daily life. In fact, most of us probably only see neighborhoods with more police activity depicted on cop shows. 

We lived on a street that did have more police presence about 21 years ago. We shared a townhome with some guys that were doing illegal things. Dealing drugs for sure, possibly making them. Also, there were too many scantily clad young ladies meeting cars out front to not assume there was prostitution.

Thr town we've lived in for 20 years now has got to be so boring for our police. 

So, that living experience and cop shows are my frame of reference for more police presence.

Kelly

[katilac]

10 minutes ago, SquirrellyMama said:

Yes, we are aware, but it is not part of our daily life. In fact, most of us probably only see neighborhoods with more police activity depicted on cop shows. 

We lived on a street that did have more police presence about 21 years ago. We shared a townhome with some guys that were doing illegal things. Dealing drugs for sure, possibly making them. Also, there were too many scantily clad young ladies meeting cars out front to not assume there was prostitution.

Thr town we've lived in for 20 years now has got to be so boring for our police. 

So, that living experience and cop shows are my frame of reference for more police presence.

Kelly

Sure, but people are acting baffled about it, wondering "what kind of neighborhood" she lives in. The kind that apparently has more police activity than some other posters. Do some people think every single poster on this board is just like themselves? That every single poster lives in a neighborhood where police activity is rare? We all know that there are neighborhoods with more rather than less police activity, so why would we be so surprised to find that a homeschooler lives in one of them?  

It's quite a rude question on more than one front. 

[ktgrok]

9 hours ago, Fifiruth said:

It took me half way through the thread to realize that you wanted to be a “white presence” to supposedly protect the neighbors from the police. 

 

Try getting to know some local officers. You may just find that they are decent, regular people who are trying their best and end up suffering through a lot of horror, danger, and hate on a near daily basis.

And some of them may be power hungry jerks. Do you think every cop everywhere is perfectly reasonable and great to have around? ONe in my hometown, who I've sat at a dinner table with as he is my best friend's brother's friend (brother is also a cop), was just arrested for multiple bad things. Some cops are not good people, and she has no way of knowing which type has shown up. Better to observe and it's a great cop than not observe and somethign bad happens. 

[Terabith]

Honestly, police activity 2-3 times a month on an entire block doesn't really feel like all that much police activity to me, but I lived in an apartment building in San Antonio where there really WAS a meth lab in the building.  (And the building full on exploded and burned down shortly after we moved out.)  THAT apartment building had what I consider a super heavy (and super merited) police presence.  

[SquirrellyMama]

1 hour ago, katilac said:

Sure, but people are acting baffled about it, wondering "what kind of neighborhood" she lives in. The kind that apparently has more police activity than some other posters. Do some people think every single poster on this board is just like themselves? That every single poster lives in a neighborhood where police activity is rare? We all know that there are neighborhoods with more rather than less police activity, so why would we be so surprised to find that a homeschooler lives in one of them?  

It's quite a rude question on more than one front. 

In the 20 years we've lived on this street we've had police activity twice. So, when someone says 2-3 times a month isn't unusual, some of us are concerned. I don't think anyone was trying to be rude. I'm guessing they were shocked. We all have differing comfort levels. 

Kelly

[SquirrellyMama]

39 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Honestly, police activity 2-3 times a month on an entire block doesn't really feel like all that much police activity to me, but I lived in an apartment building in San Antonio where there really WAS a meth lab in the building.  (And the building full on exploded and burned down shortly after we moved out.)  THAT apartment building had what I consider a super heavy (and super merited) police presence.  

Wow! 

I remember watching the news one night about meth labs. Our neighbors in the townhome had all of the signs of having one. I was so happy to move out of there. The fear of an explosion was very real.

Kelly

[Terabith]

24 minutes ago, SquirrellyMama said:

Wow! 

I remember watching the news one night about meth labs. Our neighbors in the townhome had all of the signs of having one. I was so happy to move out of there. The fear of an explosion was very real.

Kelly

Well, we didn't know they had a meth lab when we lived there.  We found out after we moved out, when it exploded and subsequent news report. We did know that there were genuinely scary people there and constant police presence.  

I would probably be uncomfortable (especially since my risk tolerance with kids is different) if the police were coming 2-3 times a month because of violent crime or maybe even theft or something.  But that doesn't seem to be the case.  They come by and ask questions and leave.  No crimes appear to be committed.  

 

[katilac]

48 minutes ago, SquirrellyMama said:

In the 20 years we've lived on this street we've had police activity twice. So, when someone says 2-3 times a month isn't unusual, some of us are concerned. I don't think anyone was trying to be rude. I'm guessing they were shocked. We all have differing comfort levels. 

Kelly

Sure, people surprise us in conversation all the time, but we should really not respond with questions like Are you really married to him? or What kind of neighborhood do you live in, anyway?? 

[SquirrellyMama]

8 minutes ago, katilac said:

Sure, people surprise us in conversation all the time, but we should really not respond with questions like Are you really married to him? or What kind of neighborhood do you live in, anyway?? 

For sure, agreed.

[marbel]

If you don't know the neighbors, then they don't know you. Why do you think they are going to assume the best of intentions if you are obviously hanging around in your yard to see what's going on while the police are there?  You could just as easily be watching to vindicate your belief that your neighbors, being unlike you, are the criminals you always expected them to be. 

 

[Megbo]

Where I grew up, members of another minority group were often not treated well by police (to put it mildly) and I was always taught to stay and watch those interactions. In today's context, I think I think you're right to stand outside and watch when the police are speaking with your neighbours. It might be awkward in the moment, but it's the right thing to do. A day or two later, I would drop by to introduce myself. I wouldn't bring up the police visit, but dropping by lets your neighbour know that you mean well and gives them an opportunity to express if they have any feelings about how you handled the situation. 

[Terabith]

6 minutes ago, marbel said:

If you don't know the neighbors, then they don't know you. Why do you think they are going to assume the best of intentions if you are obviously hanging around in your yard to see what's going on while the police are there?  You could just as easily be watching to vindicate your belief that your neighbors, being unlike you, are the criminals you always expected them to be. 

 

That is a good point.

[Tap]

We live in a predominately white, but mixed neighborhood. The cops are here a few times per month. Sometimes due to something someone in our neighborhood has done, and sometimes to talk to people about what they witnessed elsewhere. We are in a lower-middle class neighborhood in an expensive area. Probably 20% of the houses in our cul-de-sac, have a police visit at least once a year. Some have visits monthly. 

If I saw the same person come out over and over, each time the police was called, I would assume they were just being nosy. That doesn't seem to be  your intent, so I would suggest making sure that the people you are trying to stand up for, know what your intent is. And...make sure it is a welcome presence. 

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Terabith said:

That is a good point.

Yes, I thought so as well! 

[Skippy]

16 hours ago, Terabith said:

I'm soooooo not trying to be a white savior.  I have no moral or other authority.  But I do know that the police interact differently with us, the white, college educated, two parent family who are friends with the vice mayor and have friends on city council who have been here for 12 years than they do with many of our neighbors.  I'm known for writing letters and making calls to government officials. 

Personally, I don't have a problem with your neighborhood at all. But this is the kind of thing that bothers me about the situation. You haven't met these particular neighbors. They may not be white, but they could also be a college educated, two parent family with friends in high places, willing and capable of writing and making calls to government officials. As others have said, I really think you should meet them and ask them if they want you to provide the service of "visible white presence" during a police visit before assuming that they would need or want this service that you are providing. I really do think that your heart is in the right place, but these things come across to me the wrong way, and they could to your neighbors also. 

[Andromeda]

1 hour ago, Medicmom2.0 said:

 

So when I read that you’re outside watching these interactions but your neighbors don’t know you or your intent,  and that may lead—not out of malice, but just not knowing you—to issues you may not want.  Hence my recommendation that you may want to find out what’s going on. There’s a big difference to me between a situation where the cops are swinging by to say, hey, what’s the word on the street about the robbery at the grocery store two days ago and a situation where someone is calling to report domestic violence and then doesn’t want to press charges, so the cops just talk to everyone and make sure they’re separated.  Either situation sounds possible based on your descriptions—or they could be friends and stopping by to say hi.  My point is that you just don’t know, and your good intentions may not be viewed the same by your neighbors.

 

Oh, so much this.

We live in a very diverse municipality, both income-wise and race, culture, country of origin, etc. My immediate neighborhood sees police probably at least weekly, sometimes more often than that. But here's the thing - I know my neighbors and I know that the neighbor (white) whom police visit the most  calls them himself. Sometimes there is a full contingent of a fire engine, several police vehicles, and one or two ambulances - all for him. He has some very serious issues, which I won't go into here for privacy reasons, and sometimes he calls police to have them come and talk him down, which they do. I think everyone from dispatchers to EMS to every police officer knows him, as this has been going on for at least as long as we've been living here, which is now nearly 20 years. If someone just moved into the neighborhood and started seeing this, what would they think? What if he wasn't white?

There is another family in my neighborhood, a family of color. They have police visit them every few weeks. Again, that's because the family calls for help, not because anyone reports them for anything. Now I know this also - there is an ongoing domestic dispute with an estranged family member who won't leave them alone. This person becomes very easily agitated, and police come and talk him down before he (usually) goes with them in an ambulance. If someone was out there watching, I'm pretty sure the situation could easily become escalated because this person is clearly quite disturbed.

Edited June 23, 2020 by RosemaryAndThyme
spelling

[Terabith]

To be clear, I know all the rest of the neighbors.  Other neighbors have expressed anxiety about police and been relieved when I offered to come outside and witness (assuming I am home and such).  They want someone to video if things get scary.  The habit of witnessing started after Ferguson, when a couple of neighbors were frightened and I had talked to them.  
 

On the other hand, I don’t know the neighbors who moved in across the street three weeks ago, and who had a police visit the other night.  I was doing what other neighbors asked me to do for them, but I don’t know these new neighbors because of the pandemic.  I will get to know them.  I actually got home while it was happening; the police were parked in front of my house, and I was legitimately doing stuff that really did need to be done (recycling, etc), and police left within a few minutes, so I don’t think I came across as too nosy this time.  But I will get to know them and ask them what they prefer.  
 

The “I’m a white supremacist and proud of it and you know you should call the police all the time on the neighbors” guy has moved out, thank God.  He was definitely behind a lot of police visits for awhile and a contributory factor in anxiety people had, because he was explicitly trying to use law enforcement to intimidate people into moving.  I have only witnessed professional behavior from the officers who have come, but the protests and police actions there (including at local protests) have made all of us more nervous.