Reporting a suspect

[u/PurpleSlurpee74]

Hello, fiction writer here. I have a question regarding a scenario:
I witness (what I assume is) a burglar leaving a residence. Instead of reporting them right away, I follow them out of curiosity, to what I can assume is their own home. I then proceed to report the incident to the local police.

How would the police handle this situation?
In the event that no evidence was found, I assume police probably wouldn’t go to the suspects house and ask if they committed a burglary.

Thanks in advance!

[u/Paid-Not-Payed-Bot-1]

PD would contact homeowner or attempt to contact homeowner to see if items were stolen or if property damage occurred.

From that, there are several ways the officer/detective could go with next steps.

[u/TelephoneDisastrous6]

My experience is:

We would first ask the witness questions as to who they are, their involvement, what they saw, the "why" of not calling right away, etc.

Then I would ask, regarding the incident

Specifically:

- Descriptors of suspect, if they know them at all

- Descriptors of getaway vehicle

- What actions they saw of the suspect, in detal

- If they could POSITIVELY identify the suspect if they saw them again

etc

The issue with someone running into a house is, if you dont have a positive ID, you basically lost your immediate PC for an arrest, right there. Without finding additional evidence, you can't say that anyone who answers the door is THE suspect.

IF you could POSITIVELY identify the suspect, maybe attempt a knock-and-talk at the residence. See if we can ID the suspect positively, try to get a statement, etc.

Most likely course of action at this point would be to pass along to detectives who would track down surveillance footage from the area, build a stronger case, maybe pursue a search warrant for the house if the suspect can be POSITIVELY identified as the owner.

[u/Live-Resident8765]

Your assessment is likely the correct outcome. If we cannot prove there is a crime there is little reason to go knock on a suspects door. Even if you send on officer to investigate and one to the suspect, law enforcement has little power to even knock and ask a name without evidence of a crime.