I reported a child being assaulted today. In soft play - child goes running past, mum and nan running after her. First one (nan) grabs her and shouts loudly and aggressively whilst slapping her bottom 3 or 4 times. Mum immediately grabs her and does the same. She had kicked her little sister (I discovered from the shouting was going on).
It was one of those frozen to the spot moments where you can't quite believe you have witnessed something. I was with my own two children, and felt too vulnerable at that point to go and say something.
So today, I called the soft play and asked if they had cctv. I explained why (manager was horrified). The manager asked for a description of the child and adults so she could identify them on cctv. When I gave a description she said she knew who I was referring to straight away.
So at that point I knew I could do something with it. As without any cctv or someone being able to identify the family - it would have gone nowhere. I reported it to the police as I know they will be able to view cctv, and pass details to social services.
The reason why I am posting this is because I felt the 101 responder thought I was wasting their time/a busy body. I thought I was doing the right thing. If I knew the name I'd have gone straight to social services. I rang the police as they would be able to view the evidence (cctv) and speak to staff - social workers wouldn't be able to view the cctv as far as I am aware. Maybe I was wrong? Was I?