Police came asking for information about neighbours fight. Any issues if information is given?

am.jovial

My nephew is new to this country. His neighbours - an old couple - seems to be always fighting, arguing, screaming among themselves and all the neighbours can hear it all the time. 

Tonight cops came to him asking for information about if he knows or heard anything specific etc. He told the cop "I keep hearing the noise every night but today it was more. Nothing specific I could  hear as I am watching TV usually". 

Not sure if anyone hurt or anything serious. But, my nephew wants to know if he needs to be in court as witness or has to visit police station etc. to regularly to give more info etc. Is there anything else he needs to watch out ? The cops come with body camera and record everything. 

user1977

If that was all he could tell the police then I doubt he'd be of much interest as a witness. If he gave a statement with more specific information then yes, it's possible he could be called as a witness, assuming there was enough evidence to prosecute anyone.

MalMonroe

I'm really sorry that this has been your nephew's introduction to the country. It really makes me feel quite ashamed.

It seems as if someone - maybe one or more of the other neighbours - has complained about the noise coming from the noisy neighbours and the police have taken their complaints seriously. (Or something's happened.)

If your nephew hasn't heard anything specific - that is, he's just heard shouting but not what was said, it's unlikely that he'll be called as a witness, unless it's just to confirm that the neighbours were very loud and shouted a lot.

I'm sure your nephew will be notified if he IS required to give any more information. But as he's not even been asked to supply an official statement I don't think he should worry. Obviously the police won't give any information if anything untoward has happened until, or if, your nephew is required to help further. If the police didn't say they'd need to talk to him again, there's probably no need for your nephew to worry. I think body cams are a great invention btw. There's no argument when they are used about who said what, etc.

Again, I'm sorry your poor nephew's had to go through that.

TBagpuss

If your nephew was asked for further information he might be asked to give a formal statement , he might be asked to go to the police station to do so.
Since all he can say is that he hears shouting, but isn't  (from what you say) in a position to say which of the two is the aggressor or whether it goes beyond shouting, it's unlikely that his evidence would be of much value.

However, if that were to change then if he gave a formal statement it is possible that he would later be sked to attend court to give evidence. If that happened, then he would usually be given additional information including contact details for Witness Support , and information about the process.

HE doesn't need to pro-actively do anything, although of course if the noise bothers him, or if he is concerned for the safety of the neighbour then he could call the police at the time he hears things.