DS escorted home by the police - WTF?

[ReanimatedSGB]

He's 13 and a half. He hadn't done anything wrong (as they were at pains to assure me) but someone 'reported that he seemed to be lost and potentially vulnerable', so they had asked him where he lived, brought him home, asked for my name and phone number...

It's 5pm, on a lovely sunny afternoon. DS was coming home from school. He said he had been chatting to someone about trains and train stations (he is a transport nut) - and now this? WTF? I did say to the police that he likes transport and likes to watch the trams. I am not going to insist he stays indoors all the time - why should I?

OP any chance your sons friends were picking on him? Or mocking him?

The police wouldn't have escorted him home if they hadn't seen some area of vulnerability, Zibbi
They wouldn't take the word of some random that a 13 year old boy shouldn't be out in his own.
I'd be more concerned that your ds didn't feel able to tell the police there was nothing wrong, op.
Not many 13 year olds would quietly submit to being lifted off the streets and accompanied home in a squad car?

The police don't go wasting time escorting teenage kids home without a very good reason op.

The story your son has relayed doesn't add up. Members of the public generally don't get involved in reporting nonsensical issues to the police so I do think there is more to this.

Young male, train station and adult stranger meet - young male removed and taken home.

What did the police tell you?

Bit sad that everyone thinks the stranger was 'known' to the police.
Man thought child may be lost.... man asked child if he was lost, child says no. Man, maybe still uneasy child may be lostspeaks to police prob to give them the heads up.... police take child hone.
Where in all of this does man seem dodgy?

Weird. I would of been very confused had that been my 13 year old. Could your son of been talking about the trains and the other kids were ripping it out him and the man picked up on it.

It sounds to me like the guy possibly heard something that concerned him and tried to help.

Just as a heads up, not all kids will confide in their parents if they are being bullied by their peers - may be this is what the guy heard.

Better to be safe though.

The stranger's behaviour seems odd but we don't know why and either the police had suspicions about him or thought something else might be amiss but just did what was safest - imagine the scenario if they hadn't and something bad had happened.

I doubt you’ve got the full story. Is it possible the other kids were teasing your DS without him realising and the man was aware they were and intervened and then he brought it to the attention of the police nearby ?

Something similar happened to my brother years and years ago. He was walking home from school and he had really bad hay fever, a mother saw him and thought he was crying really badly and distressed and told the school who contacted the police and asked them to look for him.

They picked him up and bought him home to make sure he was okay because I think they might have thought that he had been assaulted or something.

Just as a heads up, not all kids will confide in their parents if they are being bullied by their peers - may be this is what the guy heard

That's a really good point.

OP don't let your annoyance at what you assume happened get in the way of what might be a clue to something going on with your DS.

Maybe once reported they had a duty of care and felt nervous?

I think if the man were "known to the police" (obvious code for kiddie fiddler) do you not think it far more likely the police would be removing him than leaving him and removing one child? Makes no sense. The Police have neither the time nor resources to escort completely normally behaving teenagers home. Unless you live in a tiny village and they've got nothing to do!

The police wouldn't waste their time if they didn't feel it was a important your DS got home safely.

None of the other boys were escorted home... so they must have had good reason to escort your son home or thst he was potentiality vulnerable.

I think if he’s been ‘watching trams’ possibly this man noticed that he had let several go past without getting on which is perhaps why he thought he was lost. My local trams only have two destinations which alternate. But a third one you can change onto in town. If I saw a child repeatedly watching trams go past and not get on, I might very well assume they didn’t know where they were going.

Whatever the reason, the police did a nice and caring thing, making sure your son is safe. Autism can make people more vulnerable.

Better they make a mistake of over caution than ignore a vulnerable child.

Peers can take advantage.

Maybe your son "joked" that he was lost?

OP were the other children really interested in hearing your DS talk about transport? Really? He's a very lucky boy if he has such friends.

No idea what happened in this situation, but just imagine if your son had genuinely been in danger, the police were alerted but had done nothing. I'd much prefer that they took action unnecessarily than they didn't when needed.

So he is potentially vulnerable or not?

Does your son look younger than his age maybe?

I think the police had no choice but to do this after it was reported.
It was the report that was totally OTT.

The police have to cover their arses. If, God forbid, something happened and it emerged that a man had been reported for talking to a child and the police had taken no action....

Strange

I think you need more detail from your son. What happened to the other boys he was with. If police were worried about the adult then they would have escorted him away from the area. Not taken your son and left the others. I think something else was going on in this group of boys. They were probably making fun of him in a nasty way. In which case it was very nice of the police to bring him home.