Neighbour dispute, have the police let me down or did they handle this correctly?
I've never posted before so forgive me if I miss anything. This has just happened so I apologise if i ramble as I'm still quite shaken. I'm also in the UK so laws etc may be different here. Just looking for advice really.
We've not got on with the neighbour for a few years now, she's in her 50s and to put it mildly, she is the local drunk. Fine when sober, awful and nasty when drunk. I was away last week when my niece (who was house sitting) called me and said she had ordered a pizza and when going out to the door, the neighbour stood out front shouting abuse at her, obviously drunk thinking it was me coming out as she used the usual slurs. When I got back I knocked on her door a few times to ask what the issue was as it's uncalled for and really shook my niece who is only 19. She never answered.
So tonight whilst putting the bins out she staggered up the street and in hindsight I know I shouldn't have said anything after she had been drinking but I asked her what her problem was and why she had to say nasty things all the time. Well this situation turned quickly. Shouting, saying she will "have me" taking her bag off and throwing her jacket to the floor. Again threats, nasty comments etc. She then grabbed a broken washing parasol and started swiping towards me over the fence. This hit my face with some force and as I tried to grab it cut my fingers. There's no real damage to my face however I called the police. They were great on the phone however the officers responding just left me feeling like they were disinterested.
The male officer was the one talking so this is just in reference to him. I was asked what had happened, as I started to explain he then cut me off and asked what built up to this. Again I started to explain our history (her being the nasty drunk neighbour) and he cut me off, "what has happened tonight". So I started telling him about just putting the bins out and - cut off again, what has actually happened. So I cut to it, she was threatening me then grabbed a pole and was swinging it. I explained that I filmed it however the camera was down so you can hear what happened. Started listening to the recording. Not even at the point when she hit me he interrupted with "well this is just a neighbour dispute so what do you want us to do?". I've never dealt with the police much so this left me speechless. I asked what could they do and he just said "we will go and talk to her".
If this normal?? Can we just hit people and the police call it a neighbour dispute? I've never experienced someone so disinterested before! I'm not a violent person and was clearly left shaken yet felt like I shouldn't have called the police.. please can anyone tell me if this is right because it doesn't feel like it is. TIA.