Positive Id

[slid_away]

Hi All
My neighbour spotted a youth damaging my property and went out to speak to him as he was walking down the road. He told him he had just witnessed him cause criminal damage and was calling the police.
My neighbour let me know and I gave chase to the youth who got away.
I have since been given a name by someone after this youth was a bit loose with his mouth afterwards and seen his picture on Facebook.
Both my neighbour and myself can confirm that this is indeed the person who damaged my property (although bear in mind I did not see him do it only he ran away from me, so only my neighbour saw him do the damage)
The police are due out but my question in, will the police act on this information and speak to the youth or will they say it's insufficient evidence?
Many thanks

[boxtops]

If you and the neighbour can identify him, surely they should look into your report?

[slid_away]

That's what I'm hoping for but just got a feeling they are not going to act on it

[sandyRoe]

It sounds like vandalism. What would the police do whatever the strength of the evidence?

[slid_away]

Yeah I know what your saying. Just shows the age we live in when vandalism is accepted as a non punishing crime though.

[New Judge]

As far as the criminal damage goes there is only one witness - your neighbour. You can provide no evidence to support the allegation. However, the uncooberated evidence of a single witness if often sufficient to secure a conviction.

The problem you will face is that the police will probably deal with this (if they decide to deal with it at all) by way of an "out of court" disposal (i.e. a caution or conditional caution). This will depend of the seriousness of the offence and the alleged offenders previous record, but if the damage is slight and/or the offender has little or no "previous" a caution may well be the outcome.

[slid_away]

Thank you Judge