Some advice please

[bevans]

I live outside loop 610 in a "nice" neighborhood for the last 10 yrs. About a year ago my next door neighbor passed away and her house sat empty. Three weeks ago her nephew moved in and has been determined to make my life misrable .Two days after he moved in he caught me getting in my truck to go to the office and stated my truck was to loud and it bothered him, so that evening I parked in my driveway as always but I backed in so my tailpipe was the other way.Also this was at 8:30 am not 5:30 or somthing.Well the next morning he catchs me and says the two window units in the back of my garage make too much noise and turn them off or else. Let me start by saying my garage is air conditioned because I spend alot of time out there. I am very thoughtfull of my neighbors I.E.[my compressor is behind my garage in a insulated shed with noise barrier on the walls and i run it only when the tank is empty, i purchased electric impacts to use after 8pm so the noise doesnt bother anyone.I am preparing a show car for the houston autorama so i have to work on it somewhere. Some friend and I were unloading my truck off my trailer last saturday and putting it back in the garage and my neighbor walks over to complain about the ac's again and he looked in my garage and asked if i had a buisness in my garage ,i stated no and he says then why do you have a lift in there. Well wed. morning he caught me at my truck and asked me where my gun was , I just said whatever and drove off but wondered if he was peeking in my windows. The next day he says you sure were a bad boy when you were younger . Once agian i am wondering where his info is coming from, well now I know cause friday morning when i got up there was a DPS trooper car in his driveway and out he comes in uniform. Well to end this story I had central air installed today in my garage and the window units removed as i cant take the chance he is going to get more nasty. MY question is next time he asks where my gun is when he is standing on my driveway am i under any obligation to tell him or produce my chl since he has let me know he is aware i have one.

[Xander]

MY question is next time he asks where my gun is when he is standing on my driveway am i under any obligation to tell him or produce my chl since he has let me know he is aware i have one.

If he's standing on your driveway, all you need to do is tell him to get off your driveway because he's trespassing. If it were me, I'd report his behavior to DPS. Sounds like he's a bad egg.

[stevie_d_64]

Doesn't sound like he's being very nice...You've done your part to be accomodating, financially and personably...

I would ignore and not say or do anything in reaction to the "gun" question in the future...

His question is annoying and insiteful in its intent...

Blow it off...Maybe over time they will not be that much of a pain in the future...Who knows...Its got to get better, right???

Let them be the ones who need to change their attitude...Your fine...

[nitrogen]

If it were me, I'd report his behavior to DPS. Sounds like he's a bad egg.

This.

[austin]

Definitely call DPS. He has broken the law by running you.

[ELB]

Were it me in your shoes...and taking your report as gospel...

I would not "blow it off." If this guy has decided to get in your face, and used his official capacity to do so by running a license check and criminal history on you, then he is not going to go away. He is being a thug, he probably enjoys it, and he won't stop.

An analogy:
Most cops I have talked to have told me that the first one to call for help in a situation becomes the default "victim," which makes the other guy the "problem," at least until some pretty strong evidence otherwise emerges. This is why they tell me if I have any confrontation with anyone, even if it amounts to him running away with no actual "action," I should do my darndest to be the first on to call 911. If I scare him off with no harm done and don't report it, but he runs around the corner and calls 911 and tells the operator about the "crazy man with a gun," guess who's in trouble now? He's ditched his weapon, and there I am beboppin' down the street with my gun.

The analogy to your situation is that the first one to complain/take official action about anything will be the "victim," and the other will be the bad guy, and it will be doubly bad for you if he goes first because he is a cop. For example, if he strolls over to your driveway one night and notices your inspection sticker is overdue, and bags you for it the next morning at the end of the block in front of your neighbors, anything you do from that point on will be regarded as "retaliation." Or if he uses the famous "license plate light broken/obscured" just to pull you over for the traffic stop, complete with disarming drill. Or if he calls the city Code Enforcement about your "business" in your garage, even if you can show it is not a business, etc. Your dog tried to bite him. Whatever.

So were it me, I would be first one out of the box. I would put off the next gun purchase or impact tool purchase or whatever and get with a lawyer, and see how best to establish a complaint about this guy, including how to document your encounters, if tape recording is a good idea, and all that. Figure out how to document that you lived there for 10 years with your A/C and your tools and nobody ever complained before - just him. Affidavits from your other neighbors maybe. No record of police calls or code enforcement calls to your house. Keep your receipts for the new A/C to be able to show you responded to his "concerns." Etc. But do complain and get on record as the "victim."

Is it escalating the situation? Yeah. But again, from your description, it sounds like he's going to do that anyway. I think if you get on the record first as complaining about his behavior, even if it is not "sustained" by DPS (or whoever you complain to), its easier down the road to show that he's being the obnoxious one. And maybe he will be smart enough to at least go bother someone else. Who knows, he may have a string of complaints in his file at DPS, and this may be the straw for the camel's back.

It probably won't be a slam dunk. Cops get complained about pretty regularly, and most of the complaints don't pan out. But like I said, if he uses his position to ratchet things up with an official action, then you will forever be back on your heels trying to play catch up.

Up to you. But if he is harassing you as described, blowing it off does nothing to discourage him. I am generally a big supporter of law enforcement, but I think bully cops are worse than criminals and need to be weeded out. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to happen enough, until something really bad happens down the road.

Good luck, this sounds like a tough one.

elb

[G.A. Heath]

I would strongly recommend contacting the DPS and reporting these incidents to them. Running someones plates/dl/Name & DOB/ect w/o reason is a serious issue. Harassment is also serious and the fact that he seems to be aware that you have a gun and/or CHL is an indicator that he is not playing by the rules. The DPS does not like its people misbehaving and they will do something about it. It may take a while for them to act on it, but they will eventually investigate. Where I work contacted a trooper's captain after a trooper wrote some hot checks and then moved when he got a transfer/promotion. The trooper in question almost immediately payed the checks and now, almost a year later, the DPS is still investigating him on it. This can be far more serious than a few hot checks and needs to be reported.

[mrvmax]

I would strongly recommend contacting the DPS and reporting these incidents to them. Running someones plates/dl/Name & DOB/ect w/o reason is a serious issue. Harassment is also serious and the fact that he seems to be aware that you have a gun and/or CHL is an indicator that he is not playing by the rules. The DPS does not like its people misbehaving and they will do something about it. It may take a while for them to act on it, but they will eventually investigate. Where I work contacted a trooper's captain after a trooper wrote some hot checks and then moved when he got a transfer/promotion. The trooper in question almost immediately payed the checks and now, almost a year later, the DPS is still investigating him on it. This can be far more serious than a few hot checks and needs to be reported.

I would definately call the DPS and report him saying heis harassing you (at least it seems that way to me), this will probablt be enough to get him off your back.

[seamusTX]

Bevans, you have my sympathy. I can think of few things worse than a jerk neighbor who is a cop. At least it's DPS and not some small town where everyone in the local government is related.

My only advice is not to give him any excuse that could be considered provocation -- but you know that already.

- Jim

[bevans]

Well it might be a moot point now because my wife and I came out this morning to a street full of cars and a for sale sign in his yard. I might have gotten my prayers answered,other than the expense of having central air put in my garage. Oh well at least I added to the value of my house . I guess my plan now is to avoid this guy as much as possible till he's gone and I found out today he's had something to say to most of the neighbors including the 90yr old retired Dr. who bought his house new in 1963 and has been a wonderful neighbor.

[CHL/LEO]

I would call DPS IAD and make a formal complaint. There will be a record of him running you on NCIC/TCIC or TLETS. He violated NCIC rules and could lose all of his access privileges (which means he would probably loose his job or be reassigned to the DL division). You could probably also sue him civilly for his actions. He can lie and say he didn't do any of the other stuff but there will be an electronic paper trail of his actions that he can't deny.

[rm9792]

I would strongly recommend contacting the DPS and reporting these incidents to them. Running someones plates/dl/Name & DOB/ect w/o reason is a serious issue. Harassment is also serious and the fact that he seems to be aware that you have a gun and/or CHL is an indicator that he is not playing by the rules. The DPS does not like its people misbehaving and they will do something about it. It may take a while for them to act on it, but they will eventually investigate. Where I work contacted a trooper's captain after a trooper wrote some hot checks and then moved when he got a transfer/promotion. The trooper in question almost immediately payed the checks and now, almost a year later, the DPS is still investigating him on it. This can be far more serious than a few hot checks and needs to be reported.

Hold on a sec. First i agree guy is a jerk and needs to be reported but everyone here is assuming he ran the background offficially. I can run background checks thru Publicdata.com for example perfectly legal. Also, I believe any officer can run plates any time they wish, it is done all the time, they even have autoscanning cameras mounted now. But, I would still report it just in case he did use official equipment to do so.

[frankie_the_yankee]

Hold on a sec. First i agree guy is a jerk and needs to be reported but everyone here is assuming he ran the background offficially. I can run background checks thru Publicdata.com for example perfectly legal. Also, I believe any officer can run plates any time they wish, it is done all the time, they even have autoscanning cameras mounted now. But, I would still report it just in case he did use official equipment to do so.

His gun question indicates he ran a CHL check. CHL info is by law totally confidential now, so he couldn't have gotten it from some non-official database.

I would file a complaint against this guy. He doesn't sound like someone who should be on the street with a badge and gun.

[dihappy]

Let us know if u do anything else or when he moves out.