[thesheriff443]

So if you are a parent/family member and you know a kid/teenager that is involved in drugs or crime should you tell the police.

[Babayaro.]

No one likes a grass

[Cherie]

Tough one, it would depend on a lot of factors I guess, the level of the crime etc but it wouldn't be an easy thing to do

[thesheriff443]

Originally Posted by Babayaro.

No one likes a grass

So you have a teenager who stabs someone do you still not say anything?

[Toy Soldier]

It depends on the crime. If it was something minor and relatively petty then I would strongly encourage them to hand themselves in as the punishment tends to be far less if you're just honest about things, but I wouldn't inform the police if they didn't.

For bigger things the same applies, it's always advisable to hand yourself in, it results in less harsh proceedings in court and more lenient sentencing, but in these more serious cases it's more complicated whether or not I would get involved... as often if someone commits a serious crime they actually are in need of psychological help and thinking that you can just cover something up and everything will be fine is naive. Also on balance I personally would imagine it's probably easier to spend 10 years in prison than spend 50 years looking over your shoulder.

Of course if it's REALLY petty crime like shoplifting or something I'd just tell them not to be so ****ing silly again and forget about it

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

So you have a teenager who stabs someone do you still not say anything?

See this is one of the complicated examples for me; if a teenager is out stabbing someone, then it's not just that they're a criminal, they quite obviously are seriously troubled and their life is going to go very, very wrong if they don't get some sort of help. Covering it up might stop them going to jail but there's a high chance they're going to end up either getting caught doing something worse in future and going away for a long time, OR end up dead themself.

[Niamh.]

Similar to TS really, it's not a yes or no answer for me, it's a depends on the situation.

[LeatherTrumpet]

The police would not do much unless they were a kingpin (drugs)

If the kid robs, mugs or home invades then of course

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

The police would not do much unless they were a kingpin (drugs)

Well yes I meant to add, the police don't care even a little bit if your kid has drugs for personal use, and even selling something like weed or a couple of pills isn't going to get them more than a slap on the wrist. Probably not even selling cocaine if it's small amounts to acquaintances.

If they're selling large amounts of drugs or selling something like heroin then for sone, you have a much bigger problem on your hands, and for two, the police are probably already aware. They don't always act right away as they want to catch large stashes or make arrests when a "bigger fish" is present.

[Toy Soldier]

We actually had about £150 worth of heroin and a small bag of miscellaneous pills (probably street valium) in our safe for nearly 6 WEEKS at one point, because when we found them and contacted the police, they said to put it somewhere secure and they would come collect. Six weeks .