Can I post pictures of a suspect?
Discussion
Youth smashes a light on my property and I have it on cctv, I am stepping over any lines by posting a picture of the scrote on a local website asking for a name or posting the pictures up on local lamppost? I know police won’t do anything about it as it’s not the crime of the century but this antisocial behaviour needs stamping out.
Maybe post up with just a question, like "does anyone know who this is?" rather than "I need a name for this scumbag who smashed my light".
I assume you just want to publicise and shame, which is fair enough, so the above should achieve that. Don't be surprised if his family and friends don't react though, from claiming mistaken identity to asking for the post to be taken down by the mods. We have a serious problem with feral youths near me and they have an army of defenders who protest at any naming and shaming 'because kidz'.
I assume you just want to publicise and shame, which is fair enough, so the above should achieve that. Don't be surprised if his family and friends don't react though, from claiming mistaken identity to asking for the post to be taken down by the mods. We have a serious problem with feral youths near me and they have an army of defenders who protest at any naming and shaming 'because kidz'.
pocketspring said:
Is it just me who hates the term "anti social behaviour"? It's clearly criminal damage. I've heard of assaults being described as ASB. I'm sure it's to make the offence sound less serious than it is. I hope the OP gets a good outcome and finds the cretin.
You’re right its clearly criminal damage and anti socialJQ said:
It's always a gamble on retaliation. On the positive side, we've had a couple of posts where parents have piped up apologising profusely for their child's actions and got them to pop round round to the victim and apologise in person.
If you cause the offender any grief, the odds of retaliation are high, even if they are most likely to be relatively low level. Rubbish chucked in your garden, cars damaged, catcalling, that sort of thing. What you don't want to do is get involved in some sort of vendetta with a scum family.I'd say you have four options. One, suck it up in the likelihood it's a one off. If there's a pattern you'll have to get to the root cause. Two, go down the route the OP has proposed. Three, get the Police involved. Four, retaliate in your own time and in your own way but tell no-one. In fact, tell everyone you've taken option one.
The other thing is prevention. Can you make a repeat less likely? As I say, you don't want a vendetta. Unless they are genuinely frightened of you, these people will act the bully and take time and pleasure in hassling you. They often have little better to do.
Unreal said:
JQ said:
It's always a gamble on retaliation. On the positive side, we've had a couple of posts where parents have piped up apologising profusely for their child's actions and got them to pop round round to the victim and apologise in person.
If you cause the offender any grief, the odds of retaliation are high, even if they are most likely to be relatively low level. Rubbish chucked in your garden, cars damaged, catcalling, that sort of thing. What you don't want to do is get involved in some sort of vendetta with a scum family.I'd say you have four options. One, suck it up in the likelihood it's a one off. If there's a pattern you'll have to get to the root cause. Two, go down the route the OP has proposed. Three, get the Police involved. Four, retaliate in your own time and in your own way but tell no-one. In fact, tell everyone you've taken option one.
The other thing is prevention. Can you make a repeat less likely? As I say, you don't want a vendetta. Unless they are genuinely frightened of you, these people will act the bully and take time and pleasure in hassling you. They often have little better to do.
Legally, if you say or publish untruthful harmful stuff about a person they can sue for the damage you have caused them.
That's a matter for the civil courts, not the criminal courts.
In your case you'd be publishing harmful stuff, but you can prove your allegation. Any civil case would likely go as follows:
Scrote "Mr LLB posted a picture of me and said I broke his light"
Judge "That's definitely you in the picture?"
Scrote "Yes that's me"
Judge "Mr LLB would you like to comment?"
You "I'd like you to watch this video and I'd like to counter-sue for the damage to the light."
^^It's never going to happen.
It is far more likely that the scrote will make it his mission to prove that he's free to repeat offend and there's nothing you can do to stop him.
That's a matter for the civil courts, not the criminal courts.
In your case you'd be publishing harmful stuff, but you can prove your allegation. Any civil case would likely go as follows:
Scrote "Mr LLB posted a picture of me and said I broke his light"
Judge "That's definitely you in the picture?"
Scrote "Yes that's me"
Judge "Mr LLB would you like to comment?"
You "I'd like you to watch this video and I'd like to counter-sue for the damage to the light."
^^It's never going to happen.
It is far more likely that the scrote will make it his mission to prove that he's free to repeat offend and there's nothing you can do to stop him.
I caught some kids trying to launch my little sailing boat , they had damaged it quite badly dragging it off its locked trailer and trying to drag it across concrete. They ran away but I got a couple of photos.
I stuck their photos on the local facebook group and asked if anyone 'knew who these delinquents are and who dragged them up'.
I got accused of taking pictures of half naked children (they had shorts on), I got threatened and the police rang me. I stuck to my guns and refused to take the pictures down until I had names, a school and an apology.
After a couple of days a decent guy got in touch, he told me that his son was one of the lads and he would deal with him. He also knew the parents of the others and said he would speak to them. He asked me not to speak to the school and said it was a moment of madness and they weren't bad lads.
I took the photos down. But the police couldn't make me take them down. He just said he had had a complaint. I said well I've got a complaint, do you want me to make it official? And that was it.
I stuck their photos on the local facebook group and asked if anyone 'knew who these delinquents are and who dragged them up'.
I got accused of taking pictures of half naked children (they had shorts on), I got threatened and the police rang me. I stuck to my guns and refused to take the pictures down until I had names, a school and an apology.
After a couple of days a decent guy got in touch, he told me that his son was one of the lads and he would deal with him. He also knew the parents of the others and said he would speak to them. He asked me not to speak to the school and said it was a moment of madness and they weren't bad lads.
I took the photos down. But the police couldn't make me take them down. He just said he had had a complaint. I said well I've got a complaint, do you want me to make it official? And that was it.
Always makes me laugh when someone posts a picture of a car - usually badly parked and people go nuts that the Reg is visible. It's not their car, they just have this notion that a car Reg is somehow protected data. Even when numerous people point out that it's visible everywhere the car goes they stick to their guns, I just can't understand the logic.
Upinflames said:
I caught some kids trying to launch my little sailing boat , they had damaged it quite badly dragging it off its locked trailer and trying to drag it across concrete. They ran away but I got a couple of photos.
I stuck their photos on the local facebook group and asked if anyone 'knew who these delinquents are and who dragged them up'.
I got accused of taking pictures of half naked children (they had shorts on), I got threatened and the police rang me. I stuck to my guns and refused to take the pictures down until I had names, a school and an apology.
After a couple of days a decent guy got in touch, he told me that his son was one of the lads and he would deal with him. He also knew the parents of the others and said he would speak to them. He asked me not to speak to the school and said it was a moment of madness and they weren't bad lads.
I took the photos down. But the police couldn't make me take them down. He just said he had had a complaint. I said well I've got a complaint, do you want me to make it official? And that was it.
Good for you. This 'because kids' thing needs to be treated with the respect it deserves. Did the Police explain what law they were using to try and make you remove the images?I stuck their photos on the local facebook group and asked if anyone 'knew who these delinquents are and who dragged them up'.
I got accused of taking pictures of half naked children (they had shorts on), I got threatened and the police rang me. I stuck to my guns and refused to take the pictures down until I had names, a school and an apology.
After a couple of days a decent guy got in touch, he told me that his son was one of the lads and he would deal with him. He also knew the parents of the others and said he would speak to them. He asked me not to speak to the school and said it was a moment of madness and they weren't bad lads.
I took the photos down. But the police couldn't make me take them down. He just said he had had a complaint. I said well I've got a complaint, do you want me to make it official? And that was it.
Our neighbour was burgled and our cctv picked up a really clear of the suspect, the police attended and a wpc took a pic on her phone of the monitor image ( not surprised that published images are so poor) , we published some decent images on facebook and had the scrotes name from a couple of people , the police took 3 months to pull him in ! Obviously the stolen items were long gone and a witness couldn’t recognise him after this time and he had changed his appearence so he walked .some time later there was a police facebook post looking for him with a “ do not approach “ type message .
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff