I think I asked to record a conversation with some cops and I was told no then, too. I was complaining that my upstairs neighbor had been screaming for six hours straight and had been slamming and breaking things. At night.
They asked why I was cursing and being aggressive towards them (I literally just said it was fucking loud or something) and they told me I should be more sympathetic towards her because she has a mental illness. Okay. She also has a criminal history and she came at me with a knife. She was acting up because she was drunk and part of our lease was no alcohol usage on the property or we’d be evicted immediately. Manager did find a beer can of hers and she was still living there. She nearly destroyed her apartment and mine by flooding it and then refusing to use the fans because she didn’t like it (note that I had the fans on too and I’m autistic so I’m sensitive to loud noise). Point is, there’s mental illness and there’s being a scumbag. She refused treatment too and I’m pretty sure treatment was another condition of living there. They wouldn’t evict anyone for anything serious, but when I slandered them I was threatened with eviction and arrest.