Ring and dash pranking by kids in my neighbourhood, what can be done?

Magnifiqalex

I am not sure if this is the right topic to post in, but thought it would be the closest after searching through others, if it is not kindly request anyone to guide me to the proper thread.

I am in Dublin. So some kids are continuuosly ringing the bell and running away, these are of range 8-14. They start by 4 pm till 8 pm. I tried switching off my bell but its too much work rewiring in order to turn it back again. I have work so can't really follow them to look for their houses to talk to their parents. Recently I did catch one girl without even touching her and just asked for her address and she started crying. Her father came as her friends called, they lived nearby(which i did not know). When he came he was all concerned with his daughter, not at all concerned with the cause or the problems, he just said his side and went back. I am new to this area, its a new house and I dont want to go to the authorities as i dont want to ruin the possible relationships with nearby families due to their kids( although i am not sure if police can or will do something to fix this).

My only question is how to deal with this, they are just so adamant, Its kinda feels harassment now, I am totally losing it. What are my possible options in this situation?

Peregrinus

The kids are looking for a reaction and by reacting in any way, amused or angry or anything else, you give then what they want and so reinforce the behaviour. The quickest way to stop this behaviour is to stop answering the door to them, and never say anything about the doorbell having been rung.

Buy a new doorbell of the kind that you can switch off. Or install a webcam so you can see who's ringing your bell and decide whether you want to answer or not.

This requires you to be more patient than the kids. But adults are generally good at being more patient than kids, so you're playing to your strengths here.

bobbyy gee

disconnect bell .lock gate top window throw out bucket water call garda

Peregrinus

bobbyy gee wrote: »

disconnect bell .lock gate top window throw out bucket water call garda

ineffective and unwise.

Ineffective, because reacting to the kids will merely reinforce the attention-seeking behaviour.

Unwise, because calling the guards on yourself immediately after you have assaulted someone tends not to go well for you.

_Brian

By “catching” the kid and making her cry your now the neighbourhood crank.

The local crank will forever be harassed for the crack.

You need to break the cycle by ignoring what is going on and hope they get bored and move on to someone else.

Halloween is approaching, I’d suggest being decently generous with the local kids to maybe show how sound you are

irelandrover

Id advise to get a ring doorbell, can be muted during certain times but you will still be able to see who is at the door and ringing the bell.
Once you stop reacting the kids will grow tired off the game.

shesty

Yeah, ignore.
Also winter is coming, it will be too dark for them soon. School and homework will kick in in the coming weeks also.
Kids keep doing something when they get a reaction - this is very annoying but in the scheme of things not massively serious, so do your best to ignore.
Get one of those videocam bells either, so you can see whether it is someone you need to amswer or not.

colm_mcm

I dont think a video cam doorbell will improve things.

iamwhoiam

Years ago when we had that problem we taped a bottle top over the bell .Use whatever will cover the bell and tape it down firmly .

amadangomor

colm_mcm wrote: »

I dont think a video cam doorbell will improve things.

I would go back to the parent and say nicely that you have a camera at your doorbell and if it happens again the video will be shown to the Gardai.

Do you really want to have good relations with someone who totally disregarded your peace of mind whilst not reprimanding his daughter for bad behaviour.

JeffKenna

amadangomor wrote: »

I would go back to the parent and say nicely that you have a camera at your doorbell and if it happens again the video will be shown to the Gardai.

Do you really want to have good relations with someone who totally disregarded your peace of mind whilst not reprimanding his daughter for bad behaviour.

And what are the Gardai going to do to a young child? Far worse is happening in estates every day. The OP should take the advise of this thread on board and just ignore it.

Darc19

I used to love doing this and getting the chase.

Similarly I used to love robbing orchards and getting the chase.

Nice to see kids doing the old stuff again.

Yes it's annoying, but laugh at it and ignore it and they'll move on.

Or put a dummy camera at the door

But a reaction and chasing them is exactly what they want.

drogon.

OP the best course of action is to ignore it, don’t even bother opening the door. They will slowly stop.

The same with those scam calls, if you answer and engage with them, they will continue to call.

colm_mcm

amadangomor wrote: »

I would go back to the parent and say nicely that you have a camera at your doorbell and if it happens again the video will be shown to the Gardai.

Do you really want to have good relations with someone who totally disregarded your peace of mind whilst not reprimanding his daughter for bad behaviour.

You’re underestimating kids. All that will happen is they’ll wear hoodies, or tear the unit off the wall.

Darc19

amadangomor wrote: »

I would go back to the parent and say nicely that you have a camera at your doorbell and if it happens again the video will be shown to the Gardai.

Do you really want to have good relations with someone who totally disregarded your peace of mind whilst not reprimanding his daughter for bad behaviour.

I presume this is tongue in cheek.


If not. Please tell me under what criminal act the young child would be charged with???

GreeBo

Doorbells should have their own RCD in the fuse box, just flip that, dont worry about disconnecting wires!

Losty Dublin

amadangomor wrote: »

I would go back to the parent and say nicely that you have a camera at your doorbell and if it happens again the video will be shown to the Gardai.

Do you really want to have good relations with someone who totally disregarded your peace of mind whilst not reprimanding his daughter for bad behaviour.

These days kids would worry about it more if you showed the video on TikTok than if you you showed it to the Gards

Mrs OBumble

There's nothing illegal about ringing your doorbell.

GM228

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

There's nothing illegal about ringing your doorbell.

Actually, there is, it's an offence to wilfully or wantonly disturb a person by ringing their doorbell!

drogon.

Darc19 wrote: »

I presume this is tongue in cheek.


If not. Please tell me under what criminal act the young child would be charged with???

Well maybe the OP should call over to the kids parents house and keep ringing the bell and see how they feel.

I recall having something similar years ago, where kids threw eggs at an elderly mans house close by, the parents didn't give a rats arse, until they had eggs thrown at their house the next Halloween

Kids will be kids and I blame the parents for it. But I find if you ignore the door bell and don't even bother opening the door, they will eventually stop.

By getting annoyed or irritated they are winning and having fun. If you ignore them for 3 or 4 times, they won't bother again !

Jade2015

GreeBo wrote: »

Doorbells should have their own RCD in the fuse box, just flip that, dont worry about disconnecting wires!

Yeah that's what I used to do with mine, except some of the lights are connected to the same switch which is fine in the day time, but then my burglar alarm.is also on the same fuse switch and it would.trip this ring after a while

gmisk

I'd maybe get a camera or a dummy camera.
Also you get wireless doorbells with plug in ringers.
You can turn them on and off.
About 15 quid on amazon.
If you have a gate maybe lock it?

Samuel T. Cogley

GM228 wrote: »

Actually, there is, it's an offence to wilfully or wantonly disturb a person by ringing their doorbell!

What about knocking? Serious question.

Thespoofer

Best reaction is not to be seen to react. I'd agree with disconnecting the doorbell, ( maybe look at installing a handy switch to just flick on/off when it suits ) and secondly, do not answer the door to them!

The best way to disarm them would be to even salute/hello to them when walking on street, just don't let them see you being bothered and this normally will be enough to make them move on.

tscul32

Kids round here do it every summer. Just don't open the door and ignore it. If I pass a kid that I know was doing it I'd just say hi and smile. They don't really do it again then.

amadangomor

Darc19 wrote: »

I presume this is tongue in cheek.


If not. Please tell me under what criminal act the young child would be charged with???

I didn't mention that they would be charged with anything but by telling them you are going to the Guards might wake them up a bit and tell their kid to cop to fk on.

Most people on here have probably done it when they were younger, it's part of growing up. I've done far worse but if my parents found out they certainly would not have defended me. I'd have been in serious ****.

Panthro

Spray em with the hose.
Anyone asks you say you were watering your garden and didn't see the trespassers until it was too late.

average_runner

Just ignore them, it's a kids old game. We did it as kids, wanted the chase. No chase and we stopped.

Kaybaykwah

average_runner wrote: »

Just ignore them, it's a kids old game. We did it as kids, wanted the chase. No chase and we stopped.

I'm an old guy and still do it.








Nahhh. Just kidding.

...Ghost...

Ignore the doorbell and next come the eggs. Sorry OP, but the best solution is to sell the house and move far away to a place with no electricity or kids.

GM228

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

What about knocking? Serious question.

Yes, it's also an offence to wilfully or wantonly disturb a person by knocking on their door.

You can always knock on the window though

bobbyy gee

Under the 1851 Petty Sessions Act a person can ask a judge to issue a summons for a suspected lawbreaker. A garda or lawyer is not required. The standard of evidence necessary for issuing a summons is quite low.

boombang

Magnifiqalex wrote: »

When he came he was all concerned with his daughter, not at all concerned with the cause or the problems, he just said his side and went back.

The father's attitude is so pathetic. What is wrong with people?

krissovo

As a kid we used to call it knock and bolt and as stated before we did it to get a chase or some reaction. Getting cursed at from the door was cool but a chase used to get the adrenaline running. Even a curtain twitch used to signal to us you needed another knock later.

After we got bored of knock and bolt we progressed to “Hedge Hopping”. The idea was to jump over hedges or fencing through as many gardens as possible. It was a great cardio work out.

Hedge hopping led to another game where filled a envelope with dog poo and set it on fire on the doorstep and then rang the bell. The reaction we wanted was for the owner to stamp out the fire and get covered in dog poop. I am not proud of what we did but it was part of being a kid in what was largely innocent fun.

Oh and get a ring doorbell, stops all that nonsense or at least gives you a laugh when you see what is going on.

mrsgiller

Where I live it's called Nick nack, think all kids including my own have done it at some stage. Don't answer the door and they will get bored, it's hardly a criminal offence. My solution was to move my bell into my porch and lock porch door. End of problem

Samuel T. Cogley

mrsgiller wrote: »

Where I live it's called Nick nack, think all kids including my own have done it at some stage. Don't answer the door and they will get bored, it's hardly a criminal offence. My solution was to move my bell into my porch and lock porch door. End of problem

End of usefulness of the doorbell also.

mrsgiller

Saves unwanted visitors and cold callers. If some one is expected they will knock on window or call me.

Darc19

Adults do it too

https://www.facebook.com/paulvutv/videos/237857370803437/?extid=gUIXSs6AJs5sUwvt

NickNickleby

oh, we were brats. As a child in Birmingham, we called it "Thunder and Lightning". You knocked on the door like thunder, then rang like lightning.

In Dublin, it was nick nack. We lived in a corpo estate, with terraced houses. The doors were in three pairs per block - literally right next door to each other. So, we'd go in, in pairs and knock on two doors simultaneously. then run and watch the neighbours come out and batter each other for nick-nacking them. Never happened of course:pac:. then you'd get to know who gave the best/fastest reaction, so that resulted in dares. You might be dared to bang 10 times on the knocker before running like hell. Or, nick-nack and hide within grabbing distance. Everyone assumes you're half way down the road, so who had the b*lls to hide right next to the door. Ahh, fun times.

It happens to me now, but too late at night to be scaredy 10 year olds. But I still open the door, just to let them think they got me.

Embrace it OP, its kids having fun, and being daring.

Samuel T. Cogley

Darc19 wrote: »

Adults do it too

https://www.facebook.com/paulvutv/videos/237857370803437/?extid=gUIXSs6AJs5sUwvt

I want my five minutes back.

HBC08

mrsgiller wrote: »

Saves unwanted visitors and cold callers. If some one is expected they will knock on window or call me.

Why did you bother moving the doorbell rather than just removing it.
You might as well have put it under the kitchen sink.

endacl

Our youngest generation have discovered the nicknack, but aren't very good at it!

I was driving in a couple of weeks ago and saw a bunch of little girls (8-10 year olds) running in and out of gardens. I pulled into the driveway and sat in the car for a bit replying to messages before going inside. One of the little ones marched past the car, straight up to the front door and rang the bell. I gave her a blast of the horn for the craic and she nearly somersaulted with the fright. The dashcam footage is gold.

...Ghost...

endacl wrote: »

The dashcam footage is gold.

Why hold back? Show us some gold.

Magnifiqalex

Thank you everyone for replying, I am new to this website and i really didnt expect so many replies so quickly, so i would just explain the thoughts and my thinking that i had already gone though.

The Thing is I did ignore them, I did believe that they would leave if i didnt give them reaction. But I work from home, i have constant meetings happening in calls, The fact i snapped was truly when it happned on the work day, it started friday evening and it was fine, i was cool enough not to chase them tll sunday. But by Monday, it was really with the calls, the issues, I was not able to control. They were ringing continously and putting garbage in my front yard and into my letterbox, Although i do not justify my actons( which seem to be overdone due to that devil's fake crying), something had to be done other than ironically requesting them to stop ringing.

I have thought about camera in the front, but as mentioned in one of the replies, these kids are not 3-5, they are alot bigger gang. I feel like anyone with face covered can come up and do the damage. They already broke the ringbell light( which was done intentional or not i am not sure).

For the changing of ringbells, i checked that too, they are mostly sold with tranformer bells form and not really the other kind similar to Canada where i stayed previous. So i have to play with the wire and screws to switch it off and on again, its really not practical for me to do that everyday.

My real question is if Gardai can do anything about this, even if i have video of children doing these things. I should be talking to parents first but the last convo that happened between me and her dad was a disaster, he didnt care one bit what his daughter was upto, which was really sad. That has really made me lose hope with talkin to these parents. Can I not involve any authority for this, This is now practically borderline harrassment from these kids. They say from a distance we are just having fun with middle fingers.

Magnifiqalex

Okay i didnt see the other pages, seems like many of you have done this.

In my situation it starts from 4 pm to 8 pm, there is one minimum ring in 10 minutes gap, there might be more but atleast one happens for sure.
This goes on for 4 hours. I dont possibly see myself having patience with it specially on my workdays, I have other issues in my life as well .

I have seen prank videos of ring and dash onlines as well, they are fun, do it twice, thrice maybe 10 times. but this is not fun, this is bullying, they don't stop.

endacl

...Ghost... wrote: »

Why hold back? Show us some gold.

Post video of a neighbour’s child on the web?

Ah....... no.

mrsgiller

HBC08 wrote: »

Why did you bother moving the doorbell rather than just removing it.
You might as well have put it under the kitchen sink.

Only gets locked in the evenings or if the kids are doing nicknacks

whisky_galore

Ignore, ignore, ignore.
Once it ceases to be fun they'll move on to something else.
I never answer the door unless I expect someone, filters out a whole load of unwanted callers.

Magnifiqalex

So Garda is no help or no other authority that can intervene?

I do not answer the door but the ringing is what's the problem while my meeting calls are going on which is why it is unbearable.

hayoc

Disconnect your doorbell. Or install one that can be switched off easily.

I never have mine on. I have no interest in being disturbed by people unless I am expecting. These days a friend will call on the mobile and if Im expecting a delivery or a takeaway I just switch it on til the delivery happens.

hayoc

Magnifiqalex wrote: »

For the changing of ringbells, i checked that too, they are mostly sold with tranformer bells form and not really the other kind similar to Canada where i stayed previous. So i have to play with the wire and screws to switch it off and on again, its really not practical for me to do that everyday.

I used a wifi doorbell in my last place. One end of it sticks outside the front door, the other bit plugs into the wall. No wires, no screws. You could adjust the volume, switch it off, change the ringtone etc...

Think I paid less than 20 quid for it and I lived in that place 3 years and never had to replace the outer battery once.

I only got it because I got a porch installed and I didnt want the cost of moving the existing doorbell outside it.