How do you get rid of pranksters ringing my door bell?

[agnes!]

A prank is a fake spider in your mailbox and MAYBE even a daytime ding-dong ditch (even that is stretching it). What you are experiencing is vandalism and harassment. I'd call the police non-emergency number (during the daytime, not when it is happening) and ask what they think you should do.

I also like the idea of speed-dialing the parents when it happens. The problem with that is that you don't know if the parents will care.

That's why at the same time the parents are being called, the spouse would be calling the cops as Junior DelinQuent scuttles away. If Mommy & Daddy Dearest don't care? Well, the cops *will*.

agnes!

 

[HugsForEeyore]

We dealt with vandals like this for years when I was growing up. We knew who they were (kids in my grade). My mom called the cops numerous times - they did nothing. Never could catch the kids in the act, so there was "nothing they could do". My parents approached the mother of one boy, and she denied everything - it wasn't her son! This went on for YEARS at my house - constant prank calls, ringing the bell, destroying our lawn furniture. The kids were never caught, never paid any price, and basically got away with it scoot free. Trust me, there is no karma in this world, these mean kids basically won every time and never had to own up to it. Just showed me how useless police are with these things.

Still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth years later.

 

[Aliceacc]

You say the parents "probably wouldn't believe you."

How do you know? Have you tried?

I say start there. If you have no success, then you can up the ante. But give them the benefit of the doubt until you know better.

 

[Pixiedust34]

A prank is a fake spider in your mailbox and MAYBE even a daytime ding-dong ditch (even that is stretching it). What you are experiencing is vandalism and harassment. I'd call the police non-emergency number (during the daytime, not when it is happening) and ask what they think you should do.

I agree that this is harassment and vandalism. It's trespassing, too. I like the idea of calling the police during the day and following their advice. I also think that a hidden security camera along with a motion detector might help. The camera can catch them in the act, and there's a chance that a light might scare them off before ringing the bell.

I hope your problem is solved soon. I think that these types of crimes tend to increase once the weather is nice and school is finished for the year. Let us know what you decide to do and how it goes.

 

[Todd&Copper]

I'd wait up with my gun and shoot the little punk. Nobody screws with my sleep and gets away with it.

 

[Mermaid02]

Isn't it illegal to tamper with a mailbox... Federal Property and all..... too bad you could rig the door bell to splatter ink all over whomever was ringing it in the middle of the night....

 

[Jennasis]

Well...if it happens on a regular basis, I would spend a night or two camped out on the other side of said front door waiting for the kid to ring the bell. When he rang, I would throw open the front door and chase him all the way to his own font door.

Or I'd get the garden hose and run it through the house to the front window closest to the door and hose him down!

On a serious note, call the police, tell them who you believe is doing it and let them take it up with his parents.

 

[ericamanda01]

The video camera sounds like the best idea. But if your want a little revenge I would tape a thumb tack (pin side up) to the doorbell. Their so little and he won't see it, but he will feel it.

 

[iamsorcerermickey]

You might want to check with your neighbors first to see if anyone has put in a new doorbell. My brother who is a night owl would have friends coming at all hours of the night, so he installed a wireless doorbell so that we would not be bothered. Our neighbor asks us if anyone was ding dong ditching us at all hours of the night, no problems at our house. A few weeks later she asks us again if we are having any problems, says this has been going on nightly. My husband has her go to her house and then rings my brothers doorbell, you guessed it her doorbell rings too.

Turns out that her doorbell and my brothers doorbell are on the same frequency (like a garage door opener) simple change of the code and everything is fixed.

 

[Kies99]

Isn't it illegal to tamper with a mailbox... Federal Property and all..... too bad you could rig the door bell to splatter ink all over whomever was ringing it in the middle of the night....

Title 18, United States Code, Section 1705 makes it a crime to vandalize a mailbox as regardless of who purchased the mailbox, it's considered federal property. This kid could be fined up to $250K or imprisoned for up to 3 years. You shoudl contact the Postmaster General and complete PF Form 2016 (Mail Theft and Vandalism Complaint).

 

[gobnu1]

I used this once for something similar, rub a little on the button just make sure everyone else knows and clean it off in the morning, never happened again. I would assume the kid either went to the bathroom after this or rubbed his eye and was in great discomfort.

http://www.amazon.com/Insanity-Sauce-Extract-National-Chile-head/dp/B0008D80CO/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&s=gourmet-food&qid=1211906513&sr=8-5.

 

[2x_dis_dad]

Put a sprinkler with a motion sensor attached and set it up so it gets whoever comes onto the porch at night after you go to bed.

 

[sunkist]

Thanks for everyone's great ideas. My dh has idea maybe of buying a IR camera. Were going to get that little punk!!! Parents cannot denied a picture of their "little one".

 

[IV Little Monsters]

I used this once for something similar, rub a little on the button just make sure everyone else knows and clean it off in the morning, never happened again. I would assume the kid either went to the bathroom after this or rubbed his eye and was in great discomfort.

http://www.amazon.com/Insanity-Sauce-Extract-National-Chile-head/dp/B0008D80CO/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&s=gourmet-food&qid=1211906513&sr=8-5.

what a great idea!

ITA, the mailbox is a federal offense

 

[CathrynRose]

replace the doorbell with a shock buzzer

I dont know why - but this made me giggle.

Then, the kid walking around with hair like this:

....did it.

 

[pcotten]

We dealt with this for over a year. A bunch of kids kicked our door, ring our bell, etc sometimes as late as 4 AM. I tried to to catch them a couple of times by chasing but they were too fast for me. Some even were waiting on bikes while two punks would come to our door. Police were useless. I was lectured about my fitness for not catching them. They told us they are busy with more serious crimes. Finally got a video surveillance camera and DVR. Taped the punks and gave the DVDs to the police and demanded action. They were identified with the help of school workers. The detective tried to convince me to agree to warning. I told him in no uncertain terms that I want the punks to have juvenile records and told him to send the complaint to county prosecutor's office. Waiting for the case to proceed. The parents were supposedly very sorry and didn't know their kids were out at 12 AM, 4 AM harassing us. They offered to pay for my security camera cost. How generous!! I told the detective to send the case to prosecutor's office and tell the parents to shove the money where the sun doesn't shine. BTW, these punks never showed up at our doorstep again.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

You might want to check with your neighbors first to see if anyone has put in a new doorbell. My brother who is a night owl would have friends coming at all hours of the night, so he installed a wireless doorbell so that we would not be bothered. Our neighbor asks us if anyone was ding dong ditching us at all hours of the night, no problems at our house. A few weeks later she asks us again if we are having any problems, says this has been going on nightly. My husband has her go to her house and then rings my brothers doorbell, you guessed it her doorbell rings too.
Turns out that her doorbell and my brothers doorbell are on the same frequency (like a garage door opener) simple change of the code and everything is fixed.

That happened to us. We bought a wireless doorbell one day and had it on the ledge before we put it in (actually, its been 2 years and its still not in, but thats another rant....) and all of the sudden it rang. Now, we knew no one outside rang it because it was sitting right there, and we knew we hadn't done it..... we finally got the idea to look outside, and our neighbors across the street were getting a pizza delivered. We figured out that because we had a wireless doorbell, ours and our neighbors were on the same frequency.... lets just say DH had a lot of fun that night messing with our neighbors that night
Were pretty friendly though.... but I can't remember for the life of me if we told them it was us!!

Anyway, good luck with your problem. I think calling the kids parents when the doorbell rings is the best solution. This way you don't have to spend a whole bunch of $$$ installing a camera, and you don't have to involve the police - unless you really want to.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

lets just say DH had a lot of fun that night messing with our neighbors that night
Were pretty friendly though.... but I can't remember for the life of me if we told them it was us!!

 

[daisyduck123]

you can get a wireless infrared motion sensor camera that will video tape the culprit.

MIkeeee

That's what we did to catch the person who was letting their dog poop on our front lawn.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

you can get a wireless infrared motion sensor camera that will video tape the culprit.

MIkeeee

Yep. Since he is ringing in the middle of the night I would install this. That would tick me off.

I would also contact the police about the mailbox and see what happens there.