guards / statement

therogue

not sure if this is the right forum , but i witnessed a fight last week and a guards took my details and said he would be in touch. how long roughly speaking before im asked to make a statment.

TheNog

therogue wrote: »

not sure if this is the right forum , but i witnessed a fight last week and a guards took my details and said he would be in touch. how long roughly speaking before im asked to make a statment.

It all depends really if an injured party is willing to make a statement of complaint first. If the injured party is not willing to make a complaint then you may not be contacted.

Victor

If you want, write your own recollection down now, rather than forgetting half the details by next week.

peanuthead

Chances are they will never call on you.

I had a CC skimmed and when they eventually found the guy they wanted me to make a statement. They asked could they come to my job and I said not in uniform as I'm a teacher, I wouldn't feel right about it. They said they would be at my house at 4pm that day and that was 4 years ago.

Teas gone cold and the biscuits are gone stale now, I don't think they're coming!!

EDIT: Not making them out to be lazy by the way. Quite the opposite actually. If there were more witnesses and by the time they have gotten their statements, if they have what they need they don't need to bother with you.

Trojan911

Victor wrote: »

If you want, write your own recollection down now, rather than forgetting half the details by next week.

I agree. I cannot understand why officers leave it so long to complete a statement in the first place.

Surely it could be argued by defence (should a case proceed) that a statement taken X amount of weeks/ months after an incident could not be accurate and therefore the witness becomes unreliable because the evidence is cloudy due to lack of recollection.

Apart from hospitalised or rape victims I always took a statement at the earliest possible time after an incident in the Met (this was in our training).
If the victim/complainant withdrew the allegation at a later stage then a file would be completed and NFA'd (No Futher Action) & filed on Division/Borough but all the statements, my notes, crime sheet, CAD printout & victims withdrawal statement etc would be accessable for use at a later stage should anything develop from it i.e civil action or complaint.

Or do they do this over here?

therogue

off topic trojan911, but are retracted statement still held by the police for use at a later date and can they be used at the later date.

Trojan911

therogue wrote: »

off topic trojan911, but are retracted statement still held by the police for use at a later date and can they be used at the later date.

I can only speak from a UK point, but over here, I would say yes they are kept and may be used as they form part of a complaint.

They could also be cited in court even though the witness withdrew his/her statement. (Open to correction).

therogue

thanks