So, it all started when we moved into this nice house back in the beginning of the year. Everything seemed to be going well, we had some... interesting neighbors, but most everyone kept to themselves. Except the neighbors across the street from us. Their kids had decided that our property was the neighborhood hangout, and a house being built there didn’t change that.

We put in a lovely flower bed, along with a quarantine vegetable garden. We go out one day to discover the plants trampled, some pulled right out of the ground, and pots knocked over. We decided to get some cameras, and discovered it was the neighbor’s kids, who were in their early teens. The next time we saw them on the property, we told them they couldn’t play here anymore, and needed to find somewhere else to play. They didn’t take that very nicely.

Ever since then they’ve been littering in our front yard, running through the backyard when they think no one’s home, taunting our dog, putting trash in out mailbox, put cups of pee in the mailbox, other nasty things like that. We’ve had mail go missing, only to show up opened weeks later after it was said to be delivered. They took to ringing our doorbell in the middle of the night for awhile, until we got a doorbell camera. We’ve put up no trespassing signs and signs informing them of the cameras, but they don’t care.

We ended up talking to the local police after the pee incident (there was another reason that led to this, involving the parent of those kids hanging out in our backyard naked at 3 am, clearly on some sort of drug) The police talked to the parents, and for awhile it was quiet, and we were happy.

And then Christmas break happened, and these kids are now home all the time. They placed a basketball hoop out right next to our mailbox (all the street’s mailboxes are on one side of the road, and ours is in front of their house, which sucks). They play basketball for hours, cursing loudly and playing explicit music, which wouldn’t be that bad, except they play late into the night and very early in the morning. I’ve found spilled cans of soda in the mailbox recently, and today I go out to get the mail to discover the whole mailbox has been unscrewed and turned around, so the opening faces their house.

I honestly have no idea what to do. The cameras didn’t catch the actual act, but I can tell the kids were out there when it happened. I know messing/tampering with mail is a federal crime, and we’ve already contacted the police once. The parents claim their kids didn’t do it, that it was another neighbor.

What would you recommend? We’ve considered a locking mailbox, but they’d still be able to put trash in it. We’ve looking into cameras, but it’s not technically on our property, so I’m not sure how legal that would be. As far as I’m aware, we aren’t allowed to move the mailbox to our property, or we would’ve already.

I’m so sick of these kids and their parents refusing to acknowledge it. Growing up, the neighborhood kids and I played all the time outside, and none of us would’ve ever considered trespassing on someone else’s property, or going through someone’s mail! Previously I lived in what was basically a 55 community, it wasn’t a rule, which is why I was allowed to live there, but there were very few families and young people there, mainly seniors. I never realized how much I appreciated the lack of screaming children plus the politeness of senior neighbors, not to mention not having to deal with teenage antics.

UPDATE: We ended up going and talking with them directly. After fixing the mailbox, I was hanging out inside my house when the dog went ballistic at the back window. The kids, this time with other teenage friends, were in our backyard again, and not only were they there, they were trying to mess with the wildlife. Behind our property is a creek, and there are several state protected species that live there, that are illegal to mess with. They decided they wanted to touch the protected birds, who are massive and can break bones or do some serious damage if they feel threatened.

I ran out with the dog to stop them, and the teens ran off. But the cameras had caught them very clearly on the property, and it was incredibly obvious what they were trying to do. I considered calling the cops, but then we noticed all five of them in the driveway across the street. So we decided to talk them about it.

It went well. The father came out and was very upset at them, for once. Apparently we were not the first house that had complained about them today. The teens seemed remorseful, and we spoke about the mailbox thing too. Of course, they had already turned the mailbox around again, so they didn’t even try to deny it. The one kid admitted to putting the trash in the mailbox. The funny thing was, to try and get the blame off themselves, the teens instead were straight up calling out each other, naming who did each thing, so they didn’t even try to deny it.

We made it a safety thing too, not only is there the protected birds who can be dangerous, but also our big dog is very protective, and if he thought someone meant harm to us, he might not be so friendly. The father also said he’d speak with each of the friend’s parents too about what they had done.

The teens came over to our front door about ten minutes later, wearing face masks and apologized pretty sincerely. Hopefully this will be the end of it. The father told us later, once the teens were inside, that if it happens again, just to call the cops, since we have already warned them. I’m hoping there won’t be another time.

Thank you all for your advice! If it happens again, we’ll go straight the cops/postmaster, depending on what the situation calls for.