My neighbour keep playing music and talk aloud From 1 to 5 am. which makes me cannot sleep. I talked with him a lot of times, but i did not work. So I have to ask the police for help. The first time I call the police, he said the police is coming. But after about 1 hour, the police still did not come. So I call the police again, but he said he do not speak English and drop the phone. Is that a discrimination? What should I do? I am a student and I need to take classes and study.

Talk to your landlord?

It seems that noise complaints are lowest priority for cops (around here at least). If there's anything else to do, they'll do it first, and if that takes a half hour or so I get the impression they let it drop hoping that the noise stopped on its own.

We have a nightclub and bar outside our apartment and the cops are about 50 meters away- since the smoking ban it gets really loud outside with screaming jerks smashing things; sometimes I call my neighborly cops and have to ask them to speak up it's so loud . They amble out eventually, most of the time; the only time they hustle is if there is a street fight happening. Then (yes, I'm glued behind the shutters watching, almost Swiss now I am ), the drunk bastards push and paw the cops with impunity. Fascinating for a Yank to see, as you'd have your lips against the pavement and a knee in your back if you so much as brush the lint off a cop's shoulder back home.

It's probably the same reaction you'd get, if you attempted to report a problem to the Brazilian police speaking Mandarin. Except the Brazilian cop would be unlikely to have enough Mandarin to say "I don't speak Mandarin", and would just hang up!

You've got a few possibilities.
1 Learn sufficient German to make a complaint.
2 Have someone make a complaint on your behalf - are their other neighbours affected
3 Make an official complaint to the landlor.

Your first line of complaint in neighbor issues is the neighbor himself. You've already done that so the second line is the landlord. Call first and use the local language (or have someone else do so) and follow it up with a letter written in the local language sent by registered mail (Einschreiben).

When in Rome...

BTW, the police are not interested in loud neighbors, and do not see it as their job unless there is violence. Even so, domestic violence is largely a non-issue since the victim almost NEVER presses charges.

Agree, the main problem seems to be the lack of German, plus the fact that the police don't want to get involved.

If you get no joy from your landlord, I would try:

4. Looking for a new flat as soon as possible.
5. Going round to your neighbour's flat at 1am every single time that he is loud, and telling him in no uncertain terms that it is unacceptable.

Murder victims never press charges either...

Given the number of times I've heard people complain that the police came to their door because they were causing too much noise, I'm not convinced.

For street noise at night I recommend



Paintball with night vision.. Im sure any one in a long term relationship would agree that nothing says im trying to sleep up like a 2 inch bruise in the nether regions..

That's because a law that makes domestic abuse a criminal offence liable to public prosecution was only implemented a couple of years ago....and the Swiss just don't know about it.

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry but that's just BS.
The cops no doubt understand perfectly well, they just don't give an inch - the op shouldn't have to speak the language to get a reaction from them. Does it apply to tourists who are here short term and don't speak german, french, italian?

How can you be so sure of that?

thank you for the good laugh.
Don't forget that during the selection process a 3 out of 6 mark in english is a minimum for certain positions but for cops it's a max.

Surely as a student there would be someone at your College/Uni who would be able to draft out a letter on your behalf?
Then you could send copies to your landlord and the police........

Some useful tips here. Speaking to the landlord has already been mentioned. Other things suggested include keeping a record of nuisance and speaking to neighbors to get their view/exploring possibility of making a joint complaint.

More noise - police called - what next?

The suggestion that you write to the police and landlord isn't a bad idea. That way you have a paper trail of lodging your complaint. You might also try calling at the local police station. That way they can't hang up on you. Someone there will probably speak enough English if you ask nicely. But don't go in with the attitude that they ought to speak it. If they don't, it's not discrimination. Alternatively, if you can, go in with someone who can translate for you.

Going to the landlord here usually means the Regie, whom you passed through when initially renting the apt, however the building should also have a Concierge, no? Speak to him, even better...when your neighbour starts his midnight theatrics go knock on the Concierge's door, get him up, make him come and witness it for himself. Trust me, if you do it enough times the concierge will be so sick of you that he will either A) tell the neighbour to shut it or lose it (a legal option in Switzerland) B) make the official complaint to the Regie himself (remember he works for them so whatever he reports will be taken in all seriousness) or C) contact the police himself.

I imagine as your neighbour parties nights he must sleep days...why don't you have a few friends over for a knees up during the day, test out your stereo system's full volume capacity...play some of that music you love and invite all friends to get up and boogie!

make a much louder noise yourself. someone in the neighbourhood will call the police, and when they arrive you can direct them to your neighbour...

Many good advices here! Talk to the landlord is a must and usually works wonderfully!

In the meantime, I can give you a trick I learnt in my good old days in Dresden when my neighbour decided that 4 am everyday was a good time to play Heino: I put Feuer Frei on the stereo, which has a nice Bass system. It worked wonderfully.

I did, however, have to apologize to the old ladies in the neighbourhood afterwards...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBlVj-aiPcI

You need to discover when he sleeps and then disturb him back.

I am a light sleeper and what works for me is white noise.
I have a cube clock radio which has a usb port.
So just load some white noise(eg. sound of a fan running) onto a
memory stick and plug into the clock radio.
You can download off the internet.Mine last an hour and then repeats so
will run continuously.
This serves to block out any other unwanted sounds.