To expect the police to do more?

[Gingeme]

We live in a block of flats. Last November we had our front door kicked in by kids.They broke the lock and the frame of the door.Last night at about 7pm they did it again.My husband chased them for quite a while then came home and phoned the police who said they would be round this morning to take a statement. They rang at 7pm this evening to say as there was no actual criminal damage to our door this time they would pass it on to the neighbourhood police. Alot of passing the buck if you ask me

How awful! This makes me so angry.

God, I think I would be scared - surely they must at least make their presence known?

There are 4 boys that do it and they all go to a local school near here. My neighbours boy knows of them. I want to go to the school and ask what they can do about it. Ive got a 3 year old who had terrible nightmares the last time and wouldnt sleep at night for ages. He doesnt seem too bad this time but keeps saying its monsters at the door. Hes not wrong there

Thats crap. Am for you

That's awful - what if they were out to do more than just kick the door in? It doesnt bare thinking about! What the hell are you supposed to do?

Contact your local MP - people should not be terrorised in thier own homes, and the fact you have a young child males it all the worse!

I take emergency calls for the Police -
so if I had a call saying "Joe Bloggs has just kicked my door in " - officers HAVE to go out 'cos its a named offender. however , if you phoned and said "20 minutes ago our door was kicked in "- I would take a crime report for you (as you may need a crime reference number for insurance) - this crime would then be looked into by the Crime management dept, and i could also offer for you to speak with the local officers to discuss the situation, ie more police presence/security help etc.
If your not happy - the police do have a complaints procedure

My (13 yr old, 5ft) son was assaulted in the street on his way to the bus stop after school by three youths yesterday- he was punched twice in the head, once in the stomach. The police were supposed to come last night- said they were too busy, supposed to come tonight, again too busy- to take a statement. This is Devon, not exactly some crime hot-spot.

They seem to think I am being neurotic in expecting them to take a random physical assault seriously. The policewoman who rang earlier said: "your son is safe, the people in the 2 RTAs are not."

Never mind that these three youths are probably still wandering around Exeter trying to get money from passersby, with menaces and violence. Never mind that they might graduate to far worse violence and far worse crimes if left unchecked. The police seem to think that if it's kids involved, it's not serious.

What they fail to appreciate is that for some kids, it the beginnings of a downward spiral of criminality which could easily be checked by being seriously scared early on into the process. If they pick up 11/12 yr olds and scare them and give them a damned good talking to, the behaviour might not progress. As it is, you have to be knifed before they'll take it seriously.

Im sure they will come, (they have to for an assault) its just that theyre over stretched - you'd be shocked how little Police there are available for an area sometimes and how many calls are sitting there waiting to be dealt with.
It is terrible, I agree.

Oh my God duchesse is he ok? I know justbeme but Im now sitting in my own flat where I have lived safely for 9 years with all my locks on and lights on just incase they make a return visit. Ofcourse if my husband had caught them and given them what for he would have been done for assault or some such. Its so wrong.

duchesse, god we're in exter too! how is your ds? i always think of our kids being quite 'safe' here.

Thank you, Gingeme- he seems fine. In fact, he's amazingly gung-ho about the whole experience, and thinks I'm just making a fuss over nothing. It worries me that he thinks like that.

But then again, earlier today I had a conversation with two 12 yr olds outside the place where my son goes to judo, and it turns out that they hang around their school in the late afternoon/early evening because they are too scared to go out in the street. One of them had a bruise on his face that he said was made by a man punching him in the face on his way from school a few days ago. He said he told his mum a friend did when they had an argument. He said he was scared to tell the community police officer who visits their school every day because he has to walk past this guy's house every day. These lads (and probably girls as well to a lesser extent) live with this kind of violence every day.

Even school is ruled by bullies in the daytime. Kids don't speak out about bullying because they know doing so will lead to worse bullying. Those boys said that as far as they were concerned, the bullies ran the school, not the teachers. It is a high-performing comprehensive in a fairly pleasant town. I feel so sorry that our children live with this kind of violence all the time. It's no wonder they become so used to it. I told the lad that I thought it was utterly outrageous that a grown man should hit a child, no matter what he was doing. It is assault.

this is happening to our street at the moment, so far the kids have cause approx 600-800 pounds of cumulaive damage to 9 familys houses/gardens/cars. this has all happened over about the last 10 days. Each incident has been reported to the police but they just do not care, it really irritates me.

I think I spoke too soon about my 3 year old being ok. Ive literaly just been in to him because he was screaming about 'the monster'!.
Makes me so cross. These little s*S that did this cant have been more thab 12

mamatres, thank you for asking. I cross-posted with you. My son and daughter go to Ex*er Sc**l (

Makes me sick. They just dont have any respect for anything or anyone it would seem. If theyre like this at 12 what are they gonna be like in adult hood?

Well thanks for letting me get this off my chest. Just hope things turn out ok for you duchesse.
Ill keep you posted if and what the police turn up.
Off to bed now. Night

Night Gingeme. Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread. I was agreeing with you, I guess, about the police not appearing to take crime committed by children very seriously. I don't know how grown-up your son is, but I'd probably have told mine at that age that it's just some very silly boys kicking the door. If he asks why (don't they all at that age?) say because they are very silly and haven't got mummies to look after them properly and make sure they don't do silly things. It might help with the monsters. On the other hand, they all seem to go through a monster phase- they might be under the bed, in the cupboard, or even in the bathroom at night. Are you certain it is the door being kicked in that is causing his nightmares?

gosh duchesse, i am very surprised even more so now i know what school your ds goes to. my brother went there and i used to go to school opposite. my ds1 is at s Wirds school and as far as i know there doesnt seem to be any bullying isues there but its a much mmuch smaller school.
and i havent experienced yet what goes on with teenagers out on their own as my eldest is only 8.

i am horrified for you all re police responses. in my naiivete i thought that police HAD to respond straight away esp if a child is involved and/or a physical attack. i guess it never occurred to me to think otherwise.

Morning. NO probs duchesse. My little bot is nearly 3 and has never had problems with 'monsters' before this happened. But yes I know they go through these phases. I was scared of the dark till I was a teenager
Yes I used to be the same mamatres. Lost faith in the police a bit now Im afraid. If I saw these kids on the street I think Id give them what for. Trouble is that would just add flame to the fire I think.
Will keep you posted as to what the neighborhood police can suggest.

Still no sign of the police here. They are supposed to come and take a statement from my child. It is now the 4th day since the attack.

What about your end, Gingeme?

Hi duchesse. No nothing here yet
I just lock my front door as soon as my dh leaves for work and keep an eye and ear out. Shouldnt be like this. I f I dont hear anything by Monday Im going to make an appointment with the headmaster of the school they go to. See if he can shed any light on the matter.
Keep me posted.

I just had to come and update y'all on the progress of PC Devon Plod.

1 month, people, is the time it takes for the police to get around to dealing with when you've been assaulted in the street by three strangers.

We were finally contacted on the 16th April by some bod in charge of the PCs (we reckon some deadline for untackled cases was looming).

On 17th April, someone came to take my children's statements.

On 18th April, I was rung by a police officer whose only interest was whether we knew the lads- apparently identification helps with their detection rate... Because we don't know them, they don't have to look any more.

On 19th April, another PC rang to ask to me say that I didn't want my kids to testify should this come to court. I said I thought a metaphorical clip around in the ear was more in order for 12-13 year olds, surely. He continued to press me to "drop the charges". I expressed surprise that what was a crime was left up to the victims to press for investigation, and said I thought the lads should still be found and clipped before they graduated to mugging frail old ladies.

On 23rd of April, we were unavoidably delayed, and reached the police station at 4:45 pm for a 4:30 pm appointment to look at at some photos of toerags, only to discover that the person we supposed to meet had just knocked off her shift for 4 days. Clearly she had blocked a large time slot to deal with it...

She is supposed to ring today. We shall see...