The pushy door-to-door salesman at your door can be relentless.
FOX23 News caught a confrontation between an Alert Neighbor and a salesman on camera.
He became belligerent and disrespectful when she asked him for identification.
Salesman: "Let me see your ID!”
Alert Neighbor: "You're not a legitimate sales person."
Salesmen: "You're trying film me or some (expletive)"
Alert Neighbor: "well."
FOX23 News was in the neighborhood on a separate story.
In April, Tulsa City Councilors passed a solicitor ordinance.
It was supposed to keep solicitors off the street at night and from hassling neighbors with no solicitor signs.
The council rejected the idea of requiring a background check or a permit.
Neighbors called their Crime Commission Alert Neighbor Captain Kathryn Lyons when they saw a man who was persistent about selling his services.
He wanted to paint addresses on curbs for a cost.
"I just got some phone calls, are you painting?" asked Lyons.
She said he became confrontational. He was walking the neighborhood around 6pm. The curfew for door-to-door salesmen knocking at doors is 7pm.
Alert Neighbor: Do you have a driver's license or anything?”
Salesmen: "No."
Alert Neighbor: "People are concerned that you..."
Salesman: "You can call the police on me but I am not handing you my ID. I talk these people all of the time and they are not concerned."
Alert Neighbor: "They are."
After the man started yelling an expletive and began angry with FOX23 News.
Abbie: “I don't think cussing is going to get you anywhere sir."
Salesman: “I don't care call the police on me if you have a problem."
Lyons said as an Alert Neighbor Captain she feels obligated to protect her neighbors.
Eventually police showed up but the salesman wasn’t doing anything illegal so he wasn’t arrested.
Neighbors felt he violated them with his belligerence.
"The other scary thing is the staring down. They feel like they have more rights than I do, than the homeowner. They stand on your street, they know their rights,” said Lyons.
Crime Commission Executive Director Carol Bush said she hears similar stories daily from Alert Neighbors.
"Seriously this has got to stop and something has to be done,” said Bush. "That is where this frustration is coming which is why people don't feel safe any longer and in corner or aspect of their town."
The high profile crimes are grabbing headlines but it’s also the daily violations that are concerning Bush.
"It's the door to door sales, it's the home invasions, it's the car thefts. It's those things that happen daily, in every neighborhood that affect is more directly."
Without a tough law on the books or the police to make arrests, Alert Neighbors will have to watch each others back.
“It's nice that we are looking out for each other. Why should we have to put up with him?" said Lyons.
Meantime, Bush said this issue cannot be ignored.
"I think we need to start telling the story,” said Bush.
Bush said the Crime Commission does not condone its Alert Neighbors to fight back with guns.
"I can tell you they are following them. I know they are following them. We tell them not to do it either. Everybody is extremely stressed. They are fed up with the system," said Bush. "Then you are angry, then you have mass chaos, we saw it happen in Florida. We can't do that. That's where we have to come up with different strategies so this doesn't escalate into something."
Bush is on the city's Public Safety Task Force and has brought this up as a concern.
Councilor GT Bynum who authored the solicitor ordinance. The councilor was out of town but on the phone he said he is working with city leaders to launch an awareness about campaign about the new solicitor ordinance.
FOX23 News sent him the video of the confrontation.
Critics were outspoken about the ordinance saying it wasn’t tough enough.
Under Title 27, Chapter 29 it is illegal for a solicitor to do business in residential neighborhoods except during the hours of 8am and 7pm.
"I am doing everything I can do that's constitutional that was recommended by city legal," said Bynum.
He said he is waiting on the state Attorney General's opinion about requiring background checks and permits for door-to-door solicitors.
Solicitors are also banned from trying to sell an item at homes with no solicitor or no trespassing type signs.
It’s a misdemeanor and if caught violating the ordinance it is $1,200 fine and no more than six months in jail.
