Woman's Reason for Calling Cops on Neighbor's 11-Year-Old Son Cheered

A woman has been supported online after sharing the reason why she decided to call the police on her neighbors' 11-year-old son.

The controversial Reddit post, which has been upvoted by 85 percent of the users who engaged with it since it was shared online Monday, chronicled how the woman's young neighbor kept trespassing into her garden, even after she repeatedly raised the issue with him and his parents.

The woman revealed in the post that she had become so fed up that she ended up installing CCTV cameras on her property, filming the child walking into her garden yet again, and reporting him to the police. While the internet has supported the resident, the local community was enraged by her actions.

"I live in England. I own my home and understand I am fortunate, but I also worked hard for it. For a while, I got on well with my next-door neighbors Emily and Ben they also have three kids, but soon I started experiencing a lot of problems from next door," the woman said online.

"I work from home often, and I could hear shouting next door constantly; Ben is 5"11, 145kg and quite loud and intimidating, and I could hear their kids screaming and crying. I had to ask them to lower their voices daily, and I even explained that I work from home," she added.

The woman went on to say that the next hurdle of problems revolved around the family's 11-year-old son.

"I spotted their son climbing over a wall to get into my garden to get his football back which at first I ignored it," she said. "Then after it happened ten times, I finally decided to speak with his parents, and I can't remember what I said entirely. The neighbors apologized and said they would make sure their son doesn't do it and knock.

"A few days later, their son did it again while I was in my lounge. I walked into my garden, which made him jump and spoke with him. I told him I'd seen him trespass to collect his ball on various occasions. I told him I had talked with his parents and that trespassing is a crime, and I would appreciate it if he could just come to the front and knock in the future," she added.

The woman continued that she eventually "got fed up with it" and decided to invest in CCTV cameras as a deterrent.

"After installing CCTV, I thought it would stop the kids from trespassing. It continued. I saved the footage, filed a police report against the son for trespassing, and sent all my evidence to the police," she concluded.

Expert: Woman Was Right to Take Action

Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist based in the U.S., told Newsweek that the Redditor was right to take action against the 11-year-old's trespassing, despite his young age.

"It is unfortunate to have loud neighbors, but unreasonable to expect them to lower their voices all the time, just because she works from home. Instead, the woman can get soundproof windows and move your workspace to the other side of your house," Lieberman said.

"On the other hand, the teen boy continuing to trespass is wrong. He does it because of a teenager's joy at rebelling and because his loud parents didn't teach him to respect others. The woman was right to collect evidence and send it to the police".

"If this hasn't stopped him from trespassing, she can consider going down to the police station in person to file a complaint and emphasize her need for them to come out to the neighbor's house."

Lieberman added that the woman could also simply collect every football that goes over into her garden.

"He would then be forced to either knock on her door or relinquish the balls to her," she said.

What Do Comments Say?

To date, 1,700 users have reacted to the post. While most have backed the woman for reporting the child, others have criticized her behavior, calling it insensitive and unfair.

"This is the U.K, not the U.S., you can't sue your neighbor for injuring yourself as you climb over their wall to commit trespass," one user wrote.

Another user added: "It's a kid playing soccer. The yards are very small in this type of housing. The poor kid is probably staying outside to get away from what sounds like a bad family situation."

"He's getting his ball. He isn't damaging her property or being a nuisance. It's in the U.K so he can't sue if he gets injured on her property," a different user commented.

The Reddit post can be seen here.

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