DS 13 in trouble with police - voluntary interview - yos involved

[SandraDea]

I’m going out of my mind with worry.

My DS 13 has got in trouble with the police twice in the last couple of months

First time - he threw a plastic bottle in a park and it accidentally caught another boy (also 13) on the back of the head causing a small cut behind his ear. Parents went to the police and we had a attend a voluntary interview. Police called my son reckless and referred him to youth offenders scheme. We had a meeting, his case was closed, no further action.

Over 3 weeks ago he was caught on CCTV trying to steal a bike in the town centre. He was picked up and brought home by the police. This is more serious as it’s attempted theft and he was also using his dads pen knife (his dads job involves opening a lot of card board boxes) which he had stolen from his dads desk that morning) to try and cut the lock off the bike.

Police advised that there would be another voluntary interview. We are of course all very worried but what makes it worse is about a week ago (2 weeks after the incident) one of the police officers who brought him home phoned to apologise for the delay in arranging the voluntary interview as he was still ‘gathering information’.

We still haven’t heard anything. Presumably we will be referred back to yos but I have no idea of the consequences or what would be a likely outcome.

He has wider problems- he refuses to attend school and we suspect him of being on the autistic spectrum, we are awaiting help from camhs and other medical professionals, is this relevant or likely to make any difference?

Is this serious enough to go to court?

If anyone could offer any advice I would be extremely grateful

It's likely from what you've said that at this stage police and YOS will still be trying to divert your son away from crime, so they may look at Triage sessions with him (only if he admits it though).

Try not to worry about the comment from the officer- it's likely that he is just overwhelmed with work generally and needed to delay for other reasons.

You could have a conversation with the officer or YOS prior to the interview, and ask them what disposal options they are considering, should he admit any involvement? Might put your mind at rest, and will show that you are engaged and supportive of the police's actions.

Make sure you keep camhs and any other services involved as this may move his him up the wait list. He is clearly very troubled we the moment. Did there seem to be a trigger for this? Are you using any consequences at home for non school attendance and these incidents? Are the school doing any reintegration work?

I was arrested at a similar age, for putting brick through someone's shed window (silly I know) I went to magistrate court, and was giving an order to attend youth offending team once a week for a few months just to have chats and do activities about right and wrong choices (writing down the impact my behaviour had on my loved ones, writing down how and why it would have an impact on my future if I was to continue breaking the law, reasons I done it in the first place). So the likely outcome would be being involved with the youth offending team for abit, maybe a few hours unpaid work with a yot worker who will collect him and bring him to do something like litter picking, posting leaflets etc. Or maybe just a fine which you'll have to pay for him.

Thank you all so much for your comments I do feel better already. I just can’t believe how stupid he is! Hope he starts to make better choices soon

You need to get him back into education so that he is constructively occupied. Being left to his own devices all day is likely to lead to him getting into more trouble, it is a classic pattern seen in the Youth Court.