Am I right to keep reporting this as a safeguarding concern?

[AZFell]

I often (unfortunately) have students (age 16+) say they are involved in various types of criminal activity e.g. drug dealing, shop lifting, selling tobacco or fireworks illegally.

The students say these things "as a joke" or because they think it makes them look cool or "hard". But as far as I'm concerned, I can't tell if it's true or not.

I have been making safeguarding reports whenever this happens, but another colleague recently said they wouldn't bother but surely it's better to be safe than sorry?

Yep, I work in safeguarding.

I would absolutely be reporting this every time.

Are you reporting officially or putting it on CPOMS?

@PurpleSproutingSomething

Are you reporting officially or putting it on CPOMS?

I report it through my workplace's "safeguarding portal" - not sure if it's CPOMS they use.

I teach post-16 and I would put that sort of thing on CPOMs and flag up to their tutor as well.

I work in pastoral care. I would report. You can't be too careful.
We use cpoms but any safeguarding issues need to be flagged with their own specific category. Its not enough to just record it as a general note or concern.

Report it every time. That's the procedure.

Always report, it's not your place to judge whether it's true or not. That's the role of the safe guarding lead. Your are liable if you do not report things. Do your school not do safe guarding training yearly? Every school I've worked in does it without fail every September and the advice I've given you is standard dfe protocol.

Yes definitely keep reporting! As someone who has worked with teenagers who have been criminally exploited, this can be a crucial time for intervention and identifying who is at risk. Too many young boys are dying or facing prison for being exploited- it's definitely right to be reporting, it can show patterns.

Thank you. I have done safeguarding training, and I was pretty sure I was right to report it all, even though they might be lying. It was just the colleague's comment made me doubt myself a bit.

They could be being dragged into county lines stuff so reporting little potentially insignificant things could prevent something huge in the long run

Yes I would definitely. Not only to protect them but also to protect yourself if ever something did happen and they said you were aware.

I’d say most of the time it’s just trying to look cool but sometimes it’s not and you might hear a snippet and then someone else hears something more and it creates a bigger picture.