When you report a crime

What happens when you report a crime?

When you report a crime the police will want to know:

• Who you are.
• Where you are.
• What your address is.
• Is the crime an emergency or not?
• What happened?

They need to know these things so that they can:

• Decide if they need to send an someone to help quickly
• Know where you are if they need to send help
• Contact you later to talk about what happened.

If a crime has been committed the police will ask you to give a statement.

Giving a Statement

A witness statement can be written down or video recorded. It is your account of what happened to you.

A police officer will ask you questions and write down what you have said.

You will be asked to read what has been written and if you agree that it is correct you can sign it with your name.

If you don't think something is right on the statement you can ask for it to be changed.

When you sign a witness statement you are saying that you agree the statement is a true account of what happened to you.

Your witness statement may be used as evidence in court.

You should be given the name of the officer taking your statement and his or her rank and number. You should also be given the name of the officer who will be in charge of the case and their contact details. This may be the same officer who takes your statement.

You will be given a leaflet 'Giving a witness statement to the police - what happens next?' This leaflet explains who to contact to find out how the case is progressing and what happens next.