Should I report this to the police or just forget about it?

[Jessica147]

I went for a walk around 11pm last night, it was dark but I stuck to well lit roads. When I was nearly home I came across a group of 10-15 teenage lads walking in the opposite direction. As I got closer I heard one say to another 'hey mate, why don't we just rape this girl'. As I walked past a few started shouting things at me but nothing actually happened. I felt pretty shaken by it though.

My instinct is to avoid going out for late night walks, but I also don't want to change my behaviour. It all seems a bit ridiculous to be scared of teenage boys when I teach teenage boys for a living! Would reporting to the police on 101 be sensible?

I'd report it. Hope you're ok

YOu should definitely report it. Sorry that happened to you.

I think my initial thought was 'well it's my fault for walking alone on a Friday night'. I'll call 101 and see what they say.

Well that make me feel worse! I got told 'they were probably just lads showing off to their mates', 'I can log it if you want, but if we opened a log every time someone said something in the street there would be loads' and 'why didn't you report it last night when we could have done something about it '. But then at the end the person said 'don't hesitate to call us if anything like this happens again especially if you are feeling threatened'.

Still glad I reported it though.

You should report it. My teenage girls walk home from sports/clubs at night and they have every right to do that unmolested/unintimidated and so do you!

What they did was a public order offence - causing fear of violence. Not your fault in any shape or form - you should be free to go about your business at any time of day or night without suffering fear of harm. Do report it.

I think it's great that you did report it, and I'm sorry you didn't have an intelligent helpful person on the end of the phone.

The sooner society in general starts to realise how unacceptable it is to harass someone in this way the better, and that will be achieved in part by the police being contacted with these types of incidents.

The exact same thing happened to me when in my 20's.
I didn't report it but it was right by where I lived and I was always anxious about going through that part after dark when I was walking the dog.I should have done.
I don't think they had any intention of raping me,but it did have an impact on my sense of freedom,and that is not acceptable.

Well done for reporting it. Shame they tried to dismiss your concerns though, and yes... if everyone reported every incidence of stuff like this, there WOULD be loads, which is the point. It might also make people prick up their bloody ears and actually do something about it.

X post. Thank you for reporting it. Interesting response, isn't it? So the fact that a lot of this goes on makes it ok? No it doesn't! It makes our streets become more unsafe. Letting a lot of this slide in an area now leads to more serious problems for the area in years to come. That's what we have in our area now.
Do report if it happens again - as it happens. Take photos if you can do so without them being aware.

Do report again but as soon as it happens.

I just feel really despondent about the police response. Even though they can't do anything I would hope that they would react a bit better than that. However having seen police officers posting on here before I know that they basically have a lot on, and this type of thing (and more serious) is not seen as "proper crime" but something that women and children should just put up with (as they have always been expected to) and they shouldn't be wasting people's time with it.

I do think there is a bit of a sea change with the Yewtree stuff, and what's been going on in Rochdale etc, with a double whammy of the Police being told they must take sexually motivated crimes more seriously, this being out in the media and people being encouraged to report sexually motivated crimes more, and at the same time the Police having little resources to deal with it all and a culture which doesn't change that quickly. You can't just snap your fingers and say "this stuff should be taken seriously" and change the entire entrenched cultures of these massive organisations. Still I do think and hope it is changing.

So that I think is why you got the entirely contradictory messages. First "you shouldn't be bothering us with this" which is the way they feel and then "do report in future" which is the party line and probably what they are supposed to say.

Still I think people should report stuff and the police should make a note of it, and then they can try to link stuff up. Although according to at least 1 police officer on MN this is a ridiculous idea. Thing is sex offenders are often repeat offenders and so if they get a lot of reports about the same person / group of people then that is a lot of evidence and also gives them pointers who to investigate.

Anyway that's beside the point.

I'm not surprised you were afraid, I'm sure that what they did was not legal, and there's absolutely no reason that women shouldn't report it to the police when they have been threatened sexually.

I think there has been a sea change in the arwa where I live, tbf. There are a lot of women police officers, the old boys have been moved on/out. The police I've met around here have been extraordinarily polite and helpful.

One example: I helped get some animals off the road in a town centre. When the police arrived they thanked me and actually took direction from me on the scene, despite them being properly trained and, I later found out, doing this about 50 times a year! Where we used to live years ago, if I'd done that the police would have taken over and told me off for interferring.

That's really good Peace.

TBF I haven't interacted with them much recently. Also we have the Met who I think have a very particular set of problems.

Yes. I'm more in Hot Fuzz sort of territory!

Without as many murders though, obviously!

It's a bit late now as you are unlikely to find them again or be able to identify them. You should have called 999 immediately and had the police come down on them like a ten tons of shit. If they thought they were being big and clever by intimidating you they might think differently after spending a few hours each in the cells, the nasty little fuckers.

lol hot fuzz was on the other week it was BRILLIANT love those films.

I think I just got one of the old-school types. When I said I was a teacher his response was 'I don't know how you do that, you need to bring back the cane - never did me any harm'.

I am glad I reported, even though his response wasn't ideal. He said it would get sent to the neighbourhood team for my area - so even if it just becomes a statistic at least it can help to build up a picture of the types of crime happening in the area. I also feel a bit better that I did something rather than just accepting that this is the way thing are.

I didn't even consider calling police last night. I just felt daft being intimidated by a group of kids, and that it was my fault for walking alone at night. To be honest, I wasn't even sure it would be considered a crime because they didn't make a move to touch me at all. I defo would if it happened again though.

Harassment is a crime and threatening someone with rape is also a crime. People have been prosecuted when they make threats of that nature on twitter. Reporting it is absolutely the right thing. Sorry that happened to you. Had similar myself.

Jessica I'm so sorry this happened to you, sounds terrifying!

My OH is a police officer and I asked him about this. He said the guys who harassed you definitely committed a crime - section 5 public order offence: using words or behaviour in a public place likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress. A good/lucky police officer might be able to prove a more serious offence based on whether he intended you to feel harassment, alarm, or distress (section 4a) or even a fear of immediate unlawful violence (section 4).

He also said that the 101 operators aren't police officers and that this one sounded like a bit of a nob. You're well within your rights to make a formal complaint about it, since it doesn't sound like you were treated very well. You're likely to get a better response if you go into a police station in person, and perhaps ask to speak to a female PC if you're feeling nervous. Threatening to rape someone is NOT OK and the police are required to deal with this, since it's their job to make the streets safer. This is how patriarchy works - we think that being threatened with rape in our own neighbourhoods is something we should put up with and we shouldn't make a fuss. Grrrr it makes my blood boil.

Of course it will probably be very difficult to catch the little shits, but if you see them again make sure you get a description, and you could call 999 if you're feeling brave enough (I totally understand if you don't want to though, I always get jelly legs when I'm sexually harassed). There might be CCTV or something, so there's hope. My OH said to point out that if police funding hadn't been cut so dramatically they'd be better able to deal with these sorts of offences, so don't vote Tory!!!!

Hope that's helpful!