I was talking to a friend from my schooldays last night and
she told me a story about the Police, her son and his school.
Her son is ten years old and he and another friend went knocking
on doors for the Children in Need charity and collected roughly
£150.00 Gave the money to the charity and recieved a reciept.
Someone complained to the school (As they were
wearing the uniform at the time) that some boys had come to
their house asking for donations, but had no official forms/ID
ect and beleived the boys to be just scamming people for a
few quid. The school asked the pupils who it was and the two
boys went to their teacher and said it was them, in the forlorn
hope of getting a gold star or something similar. The school
called the Police, who questioned the boys and warned them
not to do this again. The school did not contact either parents
about the matter, and it only came to light when the other boy's
mother contacted my friend as her son had become upset and
withdrawn as he was scared sh*****s by the whole affair and
wanted to know if her son knew why he was like this as, the boys
are best mates. So what I'm asking is, are the School/Police legally
allowed to do this without contacting the parents?
Many thanks.

BTW This happened in Gillingham.
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Er, if the boys are 10 then PACE requires an "appropriate adult" to be present during questioning. I would imagine in most cases this would be parents.
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Originally Posted by Westcountryman:
Er, if the boys are 10 then PACE requires an "appropriate adult" to be present during questioning. I would imagine in most cases this would be parents.

You're right! The exceptions are if the child has been caught in a criminal act and it's parents are known criminals, an 'Appropriate adult" from outside the family is brought in.
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Thanks for the replies, but that's not what I was really asking,
maybe I didn't explain properly. Although in my friends opinion,
the schools reaction was a bit harsh to immediatley call the
Police, as niether boy has any history with them, nor the
families concerned either, and also the boys are not
considered to be disruptive or problem pupils at the school.
Obviously an appropriate adult must be present i.e. teacher,
other family member, social worker (If one can call a social
worker appropriate :-)) That's not what she is concerned
about.
She is more concerned with the fact that the school, having
called the Police, made no effort to contact either set of
parents at the time, nor in the future, if only to inform them
of their desicion to call them regarding their children in the
first place. If I was a parent I would like to know.
Many thanks..
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The point I was trying to make is that there seems something fishy going on. She should be asking why she wasn't the appropriate adult present (was it by request?) rather than why the police were called.

Also, I'm not up on the regs. regarding charity collections, but the children may well have broken the law, albeit unknowingly.
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Originally Posted by Westcountryman:
The point I was trying to make is that there seems something fishy going on. She should be asking why she wasn't the appropriate adult present (was it by request?) rather than why the police were called.

Also, I'm not up on the regs. regarding charity collections, but the children may well have broken the law, albeit unknowingly.

Yes, sorry I should have read you post in more detail, this is what she
is concerned about, well two things really.

A) Why she wasn't called at the time...
B) Why she or the other family were not contacted about it later.

As regards to whether the kids broke the law or not is not in question,
I would agree, as she does, that they probably did, albiet with good
intentions. It's the schools handling and subsequent silence that
concerns her most, and as you said, it doesn't sound good does it.
Many thanks.
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Didn't the police notify her of her child's arrest? Or any member of the family? Was the child actually arrested?
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Originally Posted by Westcountryman:
Didn't the police notify her of her child's arrest? Or any member of the family? Was the child actually arrested?

No arrest, just a talking to at the school, and neither the Police
or the School contacted either sets of parents after the event.
I'm speaking to her again this evening and I'll ask her for all of
the exact details. What concerns me, which is why I'm asking
here on her behalf is, she's a good parent with good kids, but
is now becoming ostracised (sp) by some of the other parents,
and so are the two boys in school by the other pupils.
Not wishing to sound derrogatory to her, but she is about as
bright as an eclipse, so has no idea who to turn to for advice
as this affair is putting a bit of unneccesary strain on the family,
as she is clueless on how to support her son, who beleives he
was essentially trying to help other kids and doesn't understand
why the coppers are telling him he's done wrong.
Many thanks.
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Well then it sounds like the police decided it was all quite innocent and decided no further action was needed.

What the other parents think/say is another matter, but then you'll never stop idle gossip. I expect the police didn't notify the parents as they didn't see the need (no further action), as for the school, I have no idea why they didn't, except perhaps that they didn't see it necessary as they concluded no further action was needed.
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Lets hope it was taken as innocent as it was then, as
you say, myself and my friend are not adversed to the
Police having a quick word with kids, give 'em a ticking
off, as it was like that when I was a kid, and in most cases
a bit of non time wasting common sense. It's just the fact
that the parents were not informed considering their age
by the Police nor the School.
Thanks for the input anyway.
ATB, Nick.
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