The police suck!

My long time friend and tenent has been harrassed and assaulted by our drunk neighbor somewhat randomly. This is a guy who is constantly sitting outside drunk as a skunk, tries to be outgoing and friendly to all the neighbors in a obnoxious way, tries to be involved with every little event that occurs on the block and seems a bit too friendly with the kids in the neighborhood. This guy has approached me many times trying to strike up a chat and I’ve either nodded, smiled, and/or walked away. My friend, on the other hand, completely ignores him or finally tells him to fuck off.

Well three days ago, my friend’s car alarm was going off in our driveway. This asswhole drunk came banging on our door. My friend, startled, went to the door and he slurred that the alarm was going off (meanwhile, at this point it had stopped). Her attitude is aggressive but she goes and disables the alarm in her car. She even, in her gruff way, apologizes. The drunk says “Well sorry isn’t good enough” and actually gets into her face, pushing her with his chest. Now, my friend is not exactly the meek type - she used to be in the army, she doesn’t have a problem defending herself, so she pushed him back. She turned towards her car and the drunk grabbed her by the throat and threw her down to the ground. He called her all sorts of names and threaten to kill her and damage her car. A bit more of a tussle occured and when he realized she was reaching for the club in her car, he jetted up the block. She called the cops and they came within 3 minutes. She received a scratch and a bruise out of this deal. The cops determined the case as a harrassment charge because the drunk claimed he didn’t touch her and then also added a resisting arrest charge because he got aggressive during the arrest.

So, they take down my friend’s information and leave. When I hear of this, I immediately tell her we need to go to the precinct because they didn’t tell her anything. We didn’t even know what the charges were during the time - we were hoping assault. But they tell us that the assistant district attorney would call her that day to sign an affadavit and write a statement. Did anyone call? Nope. In fact, we called over and over both the D.A.’s office and the precinct and they don’t even have it on record. My friend went into the precinct and finally spoke to one of the arresting officers and they told her that it was a harrassment charge and that they could do nothing else unless he attacks her again. The guy was out the next day, smoking and drinking on his porch. The worst part of it all is that he’s only two doors away…we see him all the time, we have to pass by him….
Well now what? My friend has noticed a dent in her car and she’s moving out within the week. This is someone who after four years of living here has not had a problem with anyone in the neighborhood. I don’t blame her for wanting to go but I feel that this guy just won and screwed with our lives. I don’t understand why the police are not more sympathetic and why they are not protecting us. I don’t understand why they don’t have it on record. I don’t understand why this guy can have so much power and why he had to pick on her. I hate this and I’m so depressed. Even looked for answers on a public forum and most people just said to get a gun because the police wouldn’t do anything.