To consider reporting this child

[Floradoras]

There's a boy who live on the next street. 10-13sh In age. When you walk past him he always lies. Follows you telling stories. Which is fine no issues. You just have to keep walking away.

Last year he told me my address and that he knew I had a skip. I had never seen him outside my house when I've been outside so be must have been watching me from the corner one day. But again no problem shrugged it off.

Two months ago I'm walking with my toddler and 4 year old and my friend and her son. He follows us up the road pointing a gun. He says don't worry it's not real and opens it and starts pointing at some orange plastic things or possibly foam inside. I felt like saying to him that our kids are too young to have pretend guns pointing at them and perhaps he shouldn't be approaching people with it. But I didn't. We managed to keep walking away from him. Although he followed us.

This last two weeks my neighbours have had their garage worked on. So they had stuff sat in their front garden including two bikes. He asked them if he could have them. They told him no. Last weekend I was ironing and saw out my bedroom window him and his friend were in their garden. The neighbours were out. He was picking up the bricks from the pile. Bashing on the door. Climbing up the door to peak in the top window on the door. Banging on the windows and shouting open up for godsake. Then he told his friend they never fucking answer. He's been back three times this week bashing and shouting.

My parents have been around this morning. I was helping my dad put stuff in the car. He was circling the bottom of my drive near the road on his bike. The way he was looking at My dad's head (nearly 70) made me feel really uneasy. I felt like he was considering punching him or something. He had a really nasty look and was riding about a foot to my dad's back. I kept watching him and then he went onto my neighbours new slabs that I know are not safe yet. I said should you be riding your bike on their new drive. He said to me I just want to know if I can have their bikes. I did a nod and said bye to my parents. Went back inside. I watched him punching their door. Shouting through their letterbox. Ringing the bell and knocking on the windows.

I messaged my neighbour to check they are ok and aware. She said they are aware and ignoring him because they don't have the energy for him.she informed me he has been in the garage too!!

I just don't know whether to report him or just keep out of it.

Would this concern you? I know to an extent he is just being a mischievous child. He may have something such as autism and you just never know why someone acts how they do. I'm just genuinely worried he's going to start becoming intimidating and more consistent with harrassing people.

If you do report these things. Who do you go to? Or is this literally nothing in your eyes? He makes me feel very uneasy and like he is capable of being quite nasty based on his persistent approach and swearing and having no respect for adults.

If you don’t have an address it will be difficult to track him down. The police often don’t want to know but you could try contacting them. You could also try contacting the local school. They won’t give you an address, but they should hopefully be able to identify the boy. If they can’t, that’s a dead end. As you don’t know his age, it would need to be both primary and secondary.

@Floradoras

Would he know who's reported him?

No. It would be anonymous. You could request this. But the police orSS wouldn’t divulge a name.

I would wait first and see if he stops bothering your neighbours now that the bikes have gone? If he continues to keep entering their garage etc then I would phone your local police station and explain the situation to their family liaison officer.
Its hard to tell whether he poses a risk or is just being a bit of a pain in the ass?
Definitely keep an eye on him and encourage your neighbours to do the same.

He would know if the incidents are ones which he knows you saw or were involved in. I would steer very very clear of this child op. Do what you can anonymously but don’t let him see you watching. You don’t want him in your garage

[quote BlusteryShowers]@Scweltish did you miss the bit where he is repeatedly pounding on her neighbour's door and peering through their windows asking to have bikes that he's been told they intend to keep?[/quote]
No, knocking on the neighbours door and looking through their window is not a crime either. If it was, it would be up to the neighbours to report it. They’ve decided to ignore him. You cannot prosecute/press charges against someone on your neighbours behalf.

Fuck I would have dialled 999 at the gun thing, absolutely report!

"Hello police? Yes, its an emergency, there is a ten year old outside playing with a nerf gun!!"

OP sounds pretty off as well...thinking she knows what children are thinking from their faces. Bonkers.

@Eviebeans I think you are completely wrong in saying turn a blind eye.

Maybe the world would not be so full of tragic events if people stepped up and reported things.

This boy is damaging property.

The neighbours sound like idiots- ok they are maybe ill but no excuse to ignore a child damaging their home.

OP- do you live in a rough area where this is the norm because surely other people around see it going on?

It is up to your neighbours to report him trespassing on their property. Im not sure the police are the right ones for you, but definitely getting advice from SS is a good idea.

You cannot prosecute/press charges against someone on your neighbours behalf.

where has she said she would?

This is not about pressing charges.

Talk about jumping the gun!!!

she is concerned this is a boy who is out of control and unsupervised at home possibly and is up to no good.

The police WILL intervene and go and have a word with his parents. That's what they do.

No, knocking on the neighbours door and looking through their window is not a crime either.

I’d call that harrasment and that is a crime.

The police ARE the right people.

In the olden days PC Plod would walk the beat and give the young 'un a clip round the ear and tell him to scarper.

Now, they will talk to his family.

@JinglingHellsBells

You need to contact someone.

This boy sounds as if he is mentally ill and possibly about to cause harm to himself or someone else.

No child of 10-13 should be climbing on other people's doors or banging on them and asking for the bikes or whatever.

This is NOT normal behaviour and I have worked with kids on the ADS before and not come across this.

Your neighbours are very much at fault however for not addressing this themselves.

Oh get a grip ffs!! I admit to living in a not very nice area, but this kid sounds like half the ones in my neighbourhood 😂😂

I didn't say turn a blind eye... And it's not something that can be ignored - but be aware of the limits of services especially atm

I'd find him intimidating. At that age, a child can be large enough to pose a physical threat, especially to younger children or the elderly. And I fully believe that we can sometimes get a sense of someone's mindset and intentions by their expression and body language. Don't discount that little voice that tells you to be on your guard!

It doesn't matter whether he's autistic or not, imo. He's harassing the neighbourhood, and his parents either don't care if he does or don't care enough about him to keep an eye on what he's doing. Someone needs to intervene, because these things don't always improve on their own. He's behaving more than just a little strange, and the older and bigger he gets the more of a potential threat he is. The earlier someone acts, the better, for all involved.

I think the frequent shouting and banging at the neighbours' door and windows would be enough to call the police over, so that someone can come and speak to him and his parent(s). It would make more sense for the neighbours to call, themselves. You could suggest as much, but it seems doubtful they will.

If police or social services go to see parents you may find that the senior, more aggressive version is knocking on your door

@SisterAgatha

No, knocking on the neighbours door and looking through their window is not a crime either.

I’d call that harrasment and that is a crime.

You can call it what you like, it doesn’t mean it is. The op cannot call the police and state that he keeps knocking on some neighbours door so can they come and arrest him for harassment please.

Pointing toy guns at people is how you get a fuck tonne of Armed Response Unit at the door.
It only takes one blind old bat me to mistake it for real and report it.

I'd do 101 a call based on that.

I’m autistic and not menacing / violent or criminal.

No but they can report that he has been damaging their property, breaking in to garages and peering in to houses potentially to break in again. Why is he looking in peoples letter boxes, is that completely innocent behaviour in your world?

@JinglingHellsBells

You cannot prosecute/press charges against someone on your neighbours behalf.

where has she said she would?

This is not about pressing charges.

Talk about jumping the gun!!!

she is concerned this is a boy who is out of control and unsupervised at home possibly and is up to no good.

The police WILL intervene and go and have a word with his parents. That's what they do.

Where do you live where the police provide this service?? This isn’t ‘what they do’ at all.

Can I come round and watch you this afternoon through your letter box? Is that something you’d be ok with obviously, because this is mumsnet

Do you have a tendency to drama and catastrophise? You shouldn't trust your gut when it's making ott suggestions. Perhaps you should engage with him as a child rather than as a feral experiment you can incorporate into increasingly violent daydreams. Your attitude and posts are the concerning thing here, not the boy.

This lad is menacing, violent and possibly criminal.

He may or may not be autistic.
It can be two separate things.

I think that would make almost anyone uneasy. I would probably log it with the non emergency police number personally. Obviously they might choose not to do anything with the information but if it does escalate at least there'll be a record of a persistent issue.

@Scweltish I am clearly not going to tell you where I live but I can say in all honesty that I know of young kids who have had visits by the police for anti social behaviour. In some small villages and towns it may be the community police who do it.