Cyber bullying by a 17 year old

[trinni]

My ds is being bullied, both physically and via text, facebook etc by a boy who is 17 and several years older than my ds. It has been building over several months but has escalated during the last three weeks.

It has extended to banging on windows (upstairs windows!) at our house and throwing bricks into our garden. I know the family and have spoken to the parents - both are unable/unwilling to control him.

I reported this to the police yesterday and are waiting for them to call. In the meantime, I have spoken to the child protection officer at the school where I work. She has given good advice and has suggested that the police have the power to remove his electronic equipment and also to actually take this bully to a police cell to talk to him (rather than in the comfort of his own home) can this be true? I'd like to think it was - he is however, only 17 but he needs to understand the seriousness of what he has done.

Any advice would be gratefully received as waiting to talk to the police is really driving me mad!

This is our first experience of this kind and frankly I could throttle the horrible little bloke. But I have to been seen to be acting as a responsible parent and therefore, I hope the police really give him a scare.

My concern is that it might antagonise him further but that's the chance I will have to take. I actually believe he is a very cowardly kid - he refused to face me after all.

This sounds like harassment, which is a criminal offence and for which the 17 year old could potentially be arrested. If he denies the allegations his electronic items may be seized as they would be likely to contain evidence one way or another. This is all only a maybe, your local police may not arrest the 17 year old, it could be dealt with by way of interview under caution but not under arrest, or a harassment warning given at home.

Thank you Cocktails. It's the waiting and wondering about the outcome that is so difficult.

The boy has said to my son that he isn't to tell his mum (me) anything more and that, if I call the police then we should consider moving house!

I'm trying to play it down today as my ds starts his new secondary school tomorrow and I want it to be as stress-free as possible.

Why do the police take longer than one day to deal with this sort of thing I wonder...?

Take screen shots of all the cyber threats in case he does get them erased from his computer or used someone elses computer.
What a scarey thing for the whole family to go through.

God that makes me so angry on your behalf. I hate smallminded bullies of any kind, but a 17yo picking on someone years younger than himself - dear God, how truly pathetic he must be.

Things you should do for your own safety - seal up your letterbox, get a standalone one outdoors for the postman to use. Perhaps consider secondary glazing, perspex would work, so the windows can't be shattered. Install CCTV style cameras.

The police should move more quickly on things like this - have you told them about the "moving house" threat yet?

I haven't told the police yet about the moving house threat - I'm still waiting for them to call! I have chased it up tonight and was told that it has been passed on to an officer to be dealt with and he will contact me on my mobile sometime tomorrow.

They really are impossibly slow!