Anti social behavior or boys being boys

[ChocolateSqueezyyogurts]

I received a phone call from the police today but was in work so didnt answer. They left a VM saying they would call me later (obviously I was confused and concerned why) they rang back a couple of hours later to say my 16 year old DS and a group of his friends have been caught on CCTV playing football on a local astro turf pitch and the club has reported them for anti social behaviour.

The club think the boys have climbed over the fence but the boys are saying the gate was left open and they know they shouldn't have been on there but they didnt think anybody would know.

The police officer said they wanted to visit each of the boys at home to explain that they are being let off this time but to issue a warning.

Ive obviously told my son not to do this again but I think young lads this age are probably always pulling stunts like this and to class it as anti social behavior is a bit much.

I am surprised that the police are involved, I thought that trespass was a civil matter. Unless they refused to leave when asked? Or did they have vehicles and/or firearms?

Just what I was thinking: trespass is a civil matter, not a criminal one.

Be wary of the type of "warning". If it's just a telling off and advised not to do it again, then fine. But if it's an official warning/caution, I would push back and question the nature of the alleged criminal offence. The police using the term "anti-social behaviour" sounds like they're trying to frame it in criminal terms.

https://www.gov.uk/caution-warning-penalty

Different in Scotland but there's a link on that page.

I would be surprised if the cctv didn’t cover the gate and show them climbing over

Rather than ‘boys being boys’ it sounds like teens chancing their luck. No big deal. I can recall us entering a school and using their swimming pool in the school holidays. I’m certainly not a criminal and have brought up many teenagers who have also not turned into criminals. Teenagers do behave erratically at times.
The owners have made a complaint and the police need to respond. Just advice your son to take responsibility and state it won’t happen again . Do not let him accept a caution

Ah yes, the old 'boys will be boys' bullshit, in other words, letting boys behave in ways you wouldn't let a girl get away with.

Personally I'd bollock my boy and his mates. But point out to the police that this isn't anti social given they were playing football on a football pitch, it's a civil law case of trespass and they need to concentrate on dealing with actual crime.
For the record a group of us lads used to sneek into the local school and play football on their field prior to going to the pub on a Sunday morning, until the headmaster and caretaker bollocked us... given that we were in our early twenties/late teens and most of us had left that school 10 years earlier, he had a point!

Teenagers test boundries. They have discovered that this is not something they can get away with. If they didnt do any damage i would just put it down as a learning experience and hope the police visit is a wake up call.

How would you call it if girls had been caught @ChocolateSqueezyyogurts?

I’ve called the police a couple of times (on non emergency number) when I have seen youth in places they shouldn’t be and could either be a danger to themselves or potentially causing criminal damage

I’m assuming the issue here is that they could cause damage to the pitch, so more than just trespassing.

It's a bit sad if you are using 'boys will be boys' with a straight face.

It may or may not be over the top for police to be involved. But it could be a useful warning shot across the bow to act as a heads up for your son not to enroach on property that he doesn't have permission to go on, and for you, that sometimes the reaction to our kids doing something isn't what we'd like, and might not seem proportionate, but it's what their actions have got them.

“Boys being boys” and anti-social behaviour sre synonymous.

People trot out the former to excuse the latter.

Of course it's not an over reaction.

You can be fairly sure this incident with OP's son and his pals is not an isolated one. The club will have been experiencing similar behaviour on a regular basis from various anti social groups, and probably for some period of time .

They will have involved the police because the facility is at serious risk of being permanently damaged, causing them expense and possibly even threatening it's continuing existence. To suggest the police " resent" having to deal with this criminal activity is ridiculous.

Why are you minimising behaviour which causes problems for the local community?

Why should decent people have to put up with bad behaviour just because people like yourself appear to have no sense of right and wrong and don't see the point in teaching young people about it either.

I am astonished that the police seemingly have time to deal with such a trivial issue.

Of course teens who are causing vandalism and damage should be dealt with, but in my view it’s a major waste of resources to be doing individual home visits because some boys have jumped a fence to play football.

I’d be disappointed in the way the club have behaved too.

Oh lighten up

I assume it is community police officer

Why are you disappointed in the way the club has behaved @JonesTown? Their pitch could be damaged

@sittingonabeach

I’m not convinced playing football on a football pitch (that was likely funded with public money) is going to cause damage.

I’d have thought a quiet word would be sufficient rather than trying to criminalise 16 year old boys for playing sport.

I actually suspect a bit of media shaming wouldn’t go amiss here.

What sort of club is it? Youth club or sports club?

I think if it were me I'd be asking the police to see the footage and the evidence that they climbed over the fence as opposed to an oversight on the part of whoever locks the gates.

Privately I'd explain to my child the clubs reasoning, that it's expensive, risk of injury, risk of impaling etc if they did climb the fence, risk of damage to the astroturf but ultimately if the gate was left open then I think it's silly for anyone to expect a group of kids not to be inclined to use it realistically.

A good club in my mind would be trying to identify the boys and get them actively involved in the club as a proactive measure. So in that respect their response is disappointing.

There is nothing to " lighten up" about.

Anti social behaviour causes so many problems for local communities.

The area I live in has a lot of community football clubs that provide a real outlet for young people. And there is never a week goes past with out reports of vandalism that threatens the very existence of these clubs because they dont have the money to repair and replace the damage done. And the sick thing is the worst hit clubs are those in the most deprived areas where the clubs are doing a lot to try to help the local community.

No wonder young people behave badly when people like yourself tolerate and excuse anti social behaviour

I was quite prepared to say that if course it's anti social behaviour. However having read the details I really couldn't get excited over boys playing football. I'd have thought that a phonecall from the police would ensure they take that as a warning. In the grand scheme of things seems like a waste of police time.

There is a big difference between vandalism and playing football on a football pitch.

@JonesTown but if they damage the pitch by not wearing correct footwear is that fine?

If they just played football and nothing else happened.. then a bit of a telling off for being stupid would be fine.

I remember as a kid going into places we probably were not meant to be.. not as much cctv around then though. We never did any damage, but presumably would have gotten in trouble today. I agree with the other posted that if there was nothing more going on than playing football, I'd chalk it up to teens being teens, rather than boys being boys.

That doesn't mean it goes without a telling off though, but it also doesn't need to be a huge drama.

To my mind, antisocial behaviour would have been them smoking joints, setting fire to the astroturf, scrawling obscenities on the walls and breaking the windows in the clubhouse, not having a game of football.

Yes but the point is it's Astro turf. Which can be damaged by not wearing correct footwear.
So perhaps their intention might not have been to cause damage but it could easily have happened.

There is also actually the question of noise. Certainly some of the facilities in my area co exist with their near neighbours on the understanding that noise nuisance generated by the club is managed. And the noise of these boys playing football at a time when the neighbouring residents did not expect to have to put up with may have generated bad feeling towards the climb locally.

If you are going to start differentiating between damage and nuisance caused by deliberate vandalism and damage and nuisance caused by ignorance then you are creating a very difficult situation for those people trying to protect facilities and properties.

I would not be happy with this.
A police office coming to warn my teen for playing football. Its too much.
This is a non issue. The parents have been told and thats enough. You can tell your son not to do it again. Matter closed. Doesnt need a police visit.
Its a waste of police time and i would say no to the visit (are you allowed to refuse? I am not sure). And reply thanks for letting me know it wont happen again. Has there even been any damage to the astro?
The worlds mad. Its kids playing football. Inform the parents and leave it there.

They didn’t vandalise the ground! They just played a bit of football on it…which is what it’s designed for at the end of the day. Vandalising it is a completely different thing and obviously that would be unacceptable. This is just some kids climbing over a wall to play football on a football pitch. Did you (or your kids if you have them) never do anything a bit naughty in your youth? Must’ve been a very boring one if you didn’t. My friends and I snuck onto an outdoor ice rink during winter once when I was about 14, spent a hilarious night sliding across the rink on our arses before we had to run for our lives from the security guard. We still laugh about that night to this day! Was anyone harmed? No. Was the ice rink affected in any way? No. Was anyone’s life in any way negatively affected? No. If you can’t have a few silly adventures when you’re a teenager you’re going to grow up to be a repressed and frustrated adult. I’d much rather my kids were out living their lives, getting up to a bit of mischief occasionally, than sitting in their bedrooms on screens, glued to social media.