Another reason you should know your neighbors. Find out who they are, what their lives are like. Some will be friends, maybe a few might cause trouble, most will be neutral.
I see kids in the creek behind my house fairly often. I know who they are, where they live. Because of this, I don’t mind them playing back there.
I used to have rules for the local kids to play in the creek on my property.
NO horseplay on the bridge!! Use it to cross over ONLY!
NO dams!
NO pulling rocks from the banks!
NEVER leave a mess!
but most importantly
YOUR MOTHER MUST KNOW YOU ARE HERE!!! For this I let them use my phone. I was an old bachelor, new to WV and worse yet, from NYC! This last was to protect myself as well.
All those kids are now grown and gone. No more kids close by. In a way, I kindda miss ‘em.
I live on an island with about 3K well behaved souls (12 churches, 2 saloons, 1 pot shop).
No one is anonymous. Easy to tell if someone doesn't belong.