Trespass. Does the standing on a private fence and breaking it constitute criminal damage & trespass?

I was told that when a child over 10 jumps on your fence & deliberately breaks it, by kicking it and pulling at it, this was criminal damage because they have crossed your boundary illegally and damaged your property during this illegal act. On the fence, I have been advised, means illegal trespass - the Police are telling me it does not. I cant find any Act of Law to support my argument. Can anyone help please.
Yes
what you need is to find the legal section in your local library and look up the law for your state- once you have the statute for the act commited, call the police watch commander, file a complaint against the responding officer and demand that an officer come take the report- or, just hire an attorney.
Remember that the person who put up the fence put it up on THEIR property.
id say its more like destroying of personal property and depending on amount of damage would make it felony or misdemeanor no tresspassing involved unless u had a sign saying no tresspassing or something to that effect and for the record the childs parents would be held accountable if not responsible
standing on a private fence is trasspass but breakingit is a criminal offence punishable by law
No one usually wants to damage a childs life over trespassing. Are you sure that it is that important to you?


Answers:
In the UK you will not find that trespass is illegal except for Crown land.
Trespass is not a criminal offence and you can not be prosecuted for it except for trespass on Crown owned land.
'Trespassers will be prosecuted' written on a sign is completely incorrect. Only a civil action may be taken out in the event of trespass. So 'Trespassers will face civil action in court' would be more correct but it does not have the same effect!
As far as damage to the fence is concerned, this is a criminal matter and if the child is 10 or over, it is regarded in the UK as having reached the age where they are responsible for their actions and could be prosecuted for criminal damage.
Whether they crossed your boundary or not is irrelevant. If they committed a criminal act, whether or not they were trespassing does not have any bearing on the criminal act of damaging your fence.
You must have proof of who damaged your fence. Your say so is not sufficient as it is your word against another person.
Where are you located? Criminal trespass would be defined by the laws of your state. Most of these an be found online.

In the US, trespass is usually defined by intentionally coming onto the property of another without the permission of the owner, or staying on the property after having been asked to leave. The damage to the fence isn't trespass, but would be some sort of damage to property.

What you should consider doing depends on what you want from the situation. Do you want the 10 year old charged with a crime? If so, then get the police to make a report, and get the prosecutor to press charges.

If, instead, you want the damage to the fence paid for, then go to small claims court and file an action against the child for the damage. This won't find the child guilty of a crime, but could make the child civilly liable for the necessary repairs after the intentional damage to your property. Be aware that if the judgment is against the child that you might not collect since it's quite possible the child wouldn't be able to pay. You might be able to collect in a few years when the child starts working.

As a third alternative, see if you can talk to the parents of the child, and see if they'll make restitution to you without involving the court system.