Police Take Action After Spotting Motionless Children In An Arrow Shape On The Ground

Oct 16, 2023

Most of the time, people would assume that a child’s life revolves around playing with toys, getting together with friends, and overall enjoying the remaining time in their innocent years. However, kids are more than that, like what happened in this story, wherein a group of youngsters helped authorities to find criminals.

According to an article published by The Guardian in April 2016, a group of over 30 kids and adults were celebrating Easter Day with the usual Easter egg hunt in Capel, Surrey. 

The children were enjoying the fields to search for eggs while the adults stood nearby to watch them seek treasures filled with goodies. However, a police helicopter later surrounded the area, which initially entertained the people below.

“Initially, the presence of the police helicopter was enough to entertain the children and parents,” a force spokesman said at the time.

The reason why a helicopter was dispatched to the location was because the Surrey Police received a report about intruders at an abandoned building.

The once happy gathering quickly immediately changed when they realized “they were witnessing a police pursuit.”

Later on, the children who participated in the egg hunt immediately thought of something helpful as they formed an arrow to help authorities search for the two burglars who were trying to run away.

“The children quickly formed an arrow on the ground in the middle of a ploughed field to guide the helicopter in the direction of the fleeing pair.” the spokesman added.

With the quick-thinking of kids around the area, they were able to help the policemen chase the two criminals.

In an interview with the BBC News in 2016, one of the children said it was her idea to form a human arrow with the help of another friend named Phoebe.

“I said, ‘Come on guys, let’s all get in arrows so they can see us,’ so Phoebe got everyone together and she said, ‘Let’s all get on the floor and slide down,’” the child said.

Fortunately, the helicopter crew didn’t dismiss the children’s efforts and were able to share what they witnessed to those officers assigned on the ground to catch the burglars.

“The helicopter crew relayed this information to officers on the ground and a short time later two men were arrested,” the spokesperson said.

Two men, who were 28 and 27 years old at the time, were later arrested on suspicion of burglary in connection with what they did in the abandoned building.

NPAS Sergeant Paul Sochon said of the incident: “I’m sure the last thing the group of daring Capel residents expected when they set out on Friday afternoon was to abandon their Easter egg hunt to assist us in a police search, but the initiative they demonstrated proved to be invaluable.”

Sochon later referenced popular English children's writer Enid Blyton’s stories about what happened.

“The swift action taken by the group of parents and their children was the sort of thing you would usually associate with an Enid Blyton adventure, but their ingenuity proved a great help for our crews,” he said.

The children’s actions were appreciated deeply by the NPAS crew as they landed the helicopter nearby to personally thank the kids for their contribution to the case.

Aside from their happy memories from the egg hunt, the kids also received chocolates as their reward.

“The NPAS crew landed nearby to thank the children for the role they played in the incident and they even shared a few chocolate treats with the team, which was an added bonus after a busy shift,” Sochon noted.

What do you think of the children’s heroic efforts to help authorities catch two burglars? Let us know your thoughts, and make sure to pass this on to your friends and family.