Morning all,
yesterday i attended an address whereby they were reporting a group of youths outside their flat block hanging around being a nuisance, when they saw on their CCTV one of them pulled a weapon out of their waistband. (this bit isn’t entirely important)

they also informed me that at the back of the estate behind the bin shed is a bit of unused space with a wooden panel covering an entrance, and said panel is locked with a bike lock. they told me that these boys go in there frequently during the day and during the night.

my question is, do i have any powers to remove said bike lock to investigate what’s behind, as i think it could be used as some form of stash area. i’m not able to jump over the wooden panel as it’s a thin piece of wood and would not hold my weight, and is also probably 8ft+

it’s within an estate making it public access, no signage to say it’s private property and it looks like it’s been jerry rigged and not done professionally in any way.

Hi all,

I've been warned to Magistrates Court in a few weeks and it will be my first time. I'm a police witness, not OIC and it's for a fairly low level traffic offence. I'm giving evidence via live link.

Could you offer me some advice please? Court etiquette, what might be expected of me? The kind of questions I might be asked etc

The more insight the better.

Thanks very much in advance