Police visiting my old address asking for me - why?

[DorsetandBeyond]

My ex-neighbour has contacted me to let me know that the police have visited their house (and presumably my old address too) trying to locate me.

I haven't lived at the address for a decade. Ex-neighbour was asked by police if she could contact me (we are friends on social media, although only in very occasional contact) and request that I ring 101. I've rung 101, they asked for my details and current address, and confirmed that there was something on the system but couldn't say what it was. Just said that the relevant dept would be in touch with me as soon as possible.

I can't think what on earth it could be related to, especially where it would be linked to such an old address and not my current address. I've never been witness to a crime, to my knowledge.

So, what are the possible reasons for a police visit to your house? And I'm thinking particularly of a visit to a very old address like this, which suggests that it can't be something current.

Any ideas, knowledge from police officers or those in the know, or accounts of similar experiences would be very welcome. I'm worrying about one or two family members that I've lost touch with in the last few years, which is making me feel really anxious that it might be related to them, but I'm sure there must be other reasons.

Do you drive? Probably something to do with an old car or identity theft.

Omg stand by op. You are gonna get some WILD suggestions here. My guess is they've found out you are the intended target of a gangland hit & they want you to take part in a covert sting. Happend to my husband's cousins boyfriends hairdressers uncle.

A death In the family I would Imagine

For the control room not to give you information it will be something more sensitive or complex than "we found a car with your index" as they would have just asked you on the phone. Death messages are only given face to face or at a push by a police officer so it could be that. You might be being sought as a witness if someone has brought your name up and the investigating officer wants to see if you can assist with enquiries. To be honest the possibilities are endless.
it would be quite standard in my force to ask you to call in on 101 but for the call handler not to be able to give info themselves either because they didn't know what your were required for or because it was inappropriate to tell you over the phone. We would ask for your contact details and pass the info that you had made contact to the officer dealing.
(I work in the force control room dispatching officers)

We had this when someone my husband had worked with three decades previously made a sexual abuse claim against their boss.

Hope everything is ok OP x

Highly doubtful given they let the person contact the op and ask her to phone 101. Anything significant they’d have found the op and contacted her themselves.

I had this when someone I knew at the time committed a crime and they wanted a witness statement from me

Over a decade later ?

Yes the police knocked on our door in the summer to.tell.us my Dh,estranged Dad had passed away .

My husband had the police looking for him at an old address it turned out a relative had died under suspicious circumstances and they needed dh to confirm the deacesed was his relation and for him to view the body to confirm it was him.
Very sad times.

You will get some totally crazy suggestions on here so tongue in cheek I’ll have a go: you were inadvertently the witness to a Very Serious Crime, the perpetrators of which are a threat to national security. Unbeknownst to you, you hold the key to solving it but perpetrators know this and now you have to go into witness protection, change your identity and totally give up your old life.
It’ll probably turn out to be something really dull, OP but hopefully nothing too serious.

How though? Because that’s what they were trying to do and didn’t have the correct address.

Genuine question, how would the police find me? I’m not known to them, I’m ex directory, I don’t think the police fb message people routinely and anyway my fb name is different to my actual name.

So if my estranged family member died and in their house it said “when I die tell x at x address that I’ve died”. And I moved from x address five years ago how would they know where I was? They’d have to get a court order to get information from other bodies I believe such as council or water board and even then it might be the wrong person with the same name. Maybe the dvla but it would take ages unless for something major like I’m suspected of a kidnapping.

How shiny and new was your patio? 🤔

(jk, placemarking in case you update).

Maybe they’ve found your bike? 😁

It's possible that the officer you need to speak to isn't on shift at the moment. Hopefully your number will have been added to the log and they'll give you a call as soon as possible.

OK . Long awaited crazy suggestion.

One thing that the police do is collect DNA from people they know to be innocent in order to work out which relative did the dread deed.

If they asked your neighbour to contact you rather than asking the neighbour to provide your address then II'd wager that they're not looking to catch you.

Of course, it would be criminal to not tell us what it was all about 👮

I highly doubt you're in any trouble or they'd have found you more efficiently and faster!

Was it you on the Grassy Knowle?
Sorry, I hope its nothing serious

I hope they contact you quickly OP….I can imagine all sorts of scenarios are going through your head!

A police officer once rang me at 11pm at night to ask if I was a missing person.

I assured them I couldn't be more of a found person, laying in my own bed in my own home, and they told me they must have the wrong person with the same name as me.

I bet it's not out of the realms of possibility that they may have a mix up for you too, or it might not be something serious to concern yourself over.

You could always go to a police station and ask. That way at least you will know if they want to arrest you (because they will - if you go to the station but they won't tell you over the phone).

Might be worth checking your credit report to see if anything unusual on there?

My exDP had a visit from the police when we lived together. He was out but the plain clothes office told me they were looking for someone who had the same name as my ex. Quite a common name so the search was narrowed by age and they were working from a list.

Ex wasnt in but i could confirm that he wasnt the same man as the man that was wanted/ being searched for was a black male but DP is white so they were happy with that and we never heard from them again.

They came up from the Midlands and we are in the North West so they were searching by area.

@OnlyFannys yes, that did occur to me when people mentioned financial fraud earlier - I did a basic (free) Experian search this afternoon and it's come up as Excellent, which is somewhat of a relief, although I'm not sure whether a basic search would show up everything anyway.