Oh my word!Yesterday's article on Nanny arresting three 12 year olds, for climbing and damaging a tree, seems to have caused quite a stir.
Many have, quite rightly, pointed out that I do not know the specific circumstances. I have not met the kids or seen the actual incident. It has, again quite rightly, been pointed out that the three kids may in fact be absolute hooligans who were intent on destroying the tree; in other words, they needed to be given a short sharp shock.
I fully agree, a short sharp shock may well have been needed. In pre Nanny days, this would have been a sound thump around the ear by the policeman and being taken to see the parents in full view of the street.
Unfortunately Nanny has banned that more common sense, and effective, approach to policework. Instead the police are either powerless to intervene, or do so with disproportionate heavy handedness.
I take note of your concerns about "siding with the forces of evil". However, I still feel that the police action was excessive; why precisely do they need to take DNA swabs of 12 year olds?
I would also suggest that maybe the police force in the West Midlands has its priorities a tad muddled. Another story has been brought to my attention about them banning Hopscotch in the street.
Two of Nanny's pseudo police in the West Midlands, ie Community Support officers, noticed four or five chalked grids on a pavement.
They then went to work and traced the culprits; Kayleigh Mangan, 14, and Georgina Smallwood, also 14. They told them they had drawn too many chalk marks, and made them fetch a bucket of water and scrub all but one off.
Kayleigh Mangan said:
"They said it made the street a mess and told us to clean it up.
They said they didn't mind one but four or five was too many."
Nanny has already issued a warning letter to parents in the area about not playing ball games in the street. The letter did say that old-fashioned games such as spinning tops, jacks and hopscotch were permissible.
West Midlands police said they responded to a complaint
"By targeting what may seem relatively low-level crime we aim to prevent it developing into more serious matters."
Read the above very carefully, and think about what they are saying.
Hopscotch and ball games are not criminal activities.
PERIOD!
I repeat my question that I raised yesterday; are the levels of gun crime, knife crime, assaults and drug related offences all so much lower in the West Midlands than anywhere else?
If not, should not the police be concentrating on these issues instead?
Am I so out of touch, or just plain wrong, that I am mistakenly siding with the forces of evil (tree climbers, and hopscotch players)?
"look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves"if we force some respect for little misdemeanours , perhaps the large ones will not take place,all this anti-social behaviour did not exist when we were young,because the adults did thier job properly,if you were out of line you could be sure that you would recieve a reprimand from the nearest adult,unfortunately these days children rule,which is why we are in such a mess.
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems I fear lies with the police themselves. At one time, they served the communities in which they were assigned. Not any more, it seems, alas. These days, instead of fighting 'real' crime, they seem to be riddled with political correctness, and prefer to use their limited resources to persecute decent, law-abiding citizens and to come down like a ton of bricks on 'soft' targets, such as children building tree houses or playing hopscotch and similar harmless games in the street. Admittedly, I do not know the full facts of these individual cases, but I agree with the points made by Ken.
ReplyDeleteKen, Ladies & Gents:
ReplyDeleteIf you go here you will see that the problem is often not the policemen themselves (who often tend to be fundamentally decent people), but their political masters; which brings Ken's blog right back, bang on the button.
Ken,
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the points you've made.
The actions of the police and Nanny's lackeys were totally out of proportion to the "crimes" that were committed. Strange that the police have the energy to track down two girls making some chalk marks on the ground for the purpose of playing a game yet are seemingly unable to respond effectively to real criminal activity.
And I agree, it is scary to think that playing hopscotch is regarded as a crime or anti-social behaviour.
Englishman: "little misdemeanours"? I used to climb trees when I was a kid. As far as I know, they're all still standing. I never, ever did so to vandalise the tree: I would have known that was wrong.
ReplyDeleteFor any crime or misdemeanour, there has to be intent.
Thats nothing, nanny is trying to ban standing up now http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2295384,00.html
ReplyDeleteKen, do your worst.