Ds 14 had his mobile phone stolen at knifepoint in town yesterday. He was sitting with a couple of friends after school when two lads not much older than him came over and were friendly and asked the time. ds got out his phone to tell them. They walked off a bit and then called ds to come over a minute whereupon they showed him a knife and said give me the phone or else ... Ds handed it over.
I told ds I was very glad he did the right thing to just hand it over. The phone was only worth 30 quid. Ds doesn't appear to be too traumatised though I am horrified that kids are behaving like this mid afternoon.
My dilemna is this. We are going in to report it to the police tomorrow . Ds says one of the kids he was sitting with recognised one of the boys from his boxing club and will find out his name.
Ds is concerned that even if he tells the police the boys name it wont get his phone back. It could however make a problem for him as if the lads find out he reported someone by name he'll potentially be in real danger.
I am torn between doing the right thing and reporting the boy by name , I also want to protect my son. Do I make ds tell the police the boys name or not?
I want him to have trust in the police but at the moment he's pretty cynical. Do I risk my son's safety for the over all good that may or may not come from this boy being questioned ? The boy is part of an ethnic gang who are a very tight knit community and seem pretty much outside the law.
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Ds robbed at knifepoint.
brighterfuture · 11/12/2012 14:41
Oh brighter, more trouble. I'm sorry. :(
My son got mugged at knife-point 3-4 years ago, by two much older boys/youths. He was out with a youth-worker 
in a city 25 miles away, and the muggers were total strangers. They also 'just' took his phone without hurting him. The youth worker didn't call the police. My son phoned me to tell me about an hour and a half later (from the YW's phone in the car on the way back). I called the police as soon as he got home, so that I could be sure we could answer any questions accurately.
The police were pretty cross that no-one reported it when it happened. They said that because some time had elapsed, even though it was only a couple of hours, the chances of finding the perpetrators were remote, and even if they did, they would have sold/got rid of the phone so there would be no evidence. It would be my son's word against theirs, and so absolutely no chance of the theft going to court.
Sooo... I have very mixed feelings about this. It is unlikely any action will be possible, so if you think your DS may be in danger for making a report, then that's a high risk for little 'reward', so to speak. On the other hand, people shouldn't get away with behaving like that. 
Over the past few years, my son has been the victim of several crimes (it's partly the company he has been keeping :( ). I have let him make the decision about whether or not to report, because - to put it bluntly - he has a much better understanding of the 'street culture' than I do, and he is the one who would have to deal with any repercussions. That means that crimes have gone unreported (even one quite serious assault).
So I suppose I am saying that if I were you, I definitely wouldn't make DS tell the police anything.
On the other hand, if I knew the name of someone who was carrying a knife and/or mugging people, I would call the 101 police number or Crimestoppers and report it anonymously.
Thanks for all the responses and for sharing similar exeriences. I am glad that your dc got justice nutcracker and bruffin 
..... Yes flow every day seems to throw up another trauma at the moment 
.
As we live far from the town the police told us to come in when we could which is tomorrow so there's zero chance of getting the phone back. However, 2 of Ds's friends go to the boxing club where the knife wielding thief has been spotted. One of Ds's friends' foster dad is the boxing instructor and they are going to tell him. Maybe a stern word from someone the boy respects like this will have more of an impact than the police any way.
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