Sorry, I'm not trained

Mmm - now who will believe the press release by GMP...?

quote:

I cannot blame the parents either. As a child, I behaved recklessly, unknown to my parents. I would also be surprised if none of my children did the same. Kids have minds of their own.

An important point, I believe - and it's a good thing that they do have minds of their own. I would add that learning to assess and respond to risk without parental guidance is an essential part of growing up - parents aren't gonna be around forever, after all. This is meant as a general point - I don't know if there's specific evidence that the parents were neglectful in this particular case.

The responsibilility of parents is an intersting one, because without doubt it is crucial that parents teach children what is very dangerous. Not many things need to be banned, but one absolute no-no for my brother and me was ever to get into water without a relatively or baby-sitter in charge!

My brother and I were lucky enough to grow up in the lovely Herefordshire countryside, literally as free-range kids. We had almost infinite possibility to have killed ourselves without supervision!

Had we done so I don't suppose that my parents would have been looking for a scapegoat to pin the blame on. They would have thought [possibly wrongly] that they had not quite taken enough care of us!

I hate this blaming from the people who ultimately are the ones' where the responsibility most clearly lies! Risk is a part of life, and learning how to assess risk is managed between a certain amount of teaching [never ever get into open water without supervision for example] and also being allowed to take enough risk to understand that big risks exist. I don't recall anyone telling me not to jump off the top of the straw in the Dutch barns. It seemed patently obvious that it was going to be far more painful than falling off the milk churn stand or whatever.

The blame culture is not such a useful thing, and yet we are as a nation adopting it very comprehensively.

ATB from George

quote:

A lot of your questions are answered

Thanks, Tam. I had not seen the statement. It strengthens my belief that the PCSOs were not to blame.
As for the forum member who states that if he had been the parent, the PCSOs would live to regret their actions, etc, I suggest that he reads the statement and then asks himself whether he is really being fair to them.
Ken

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
My question is where where the parents in the is case?

When people are distressed it is natural for them to try and blame someone else...hardly ever does someone point the finger at themselves, no matter how culpable they may be.

As a parent I don't know when I will release the umbilical chord (mine are 2 & 4) but you have to at some stage I guess. I don't, however, think I would allow my children to play in a potentialy deadly environment without adult supervision...

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
ah - it was a sensationalist comment, then?

Andy,

No, it wasn't any such thing, I was away when you posted.

I did say that the story was probably not the full one and saw no reference to a vehicle.

You would have thought that the initial report of this incident would have been given a grade 1 response. As far as I know PCSO's don't attend grade 1's.

I can't help feeling though that no matter what the circumstances some effort of those 'first on scene' should have been made. I'm not blaming the PCSO's, I'm sure that in their limited role they do all they can. I fail to see the point however in them attending certain jobs when their only course of action is to call for a regular officer to deal.

It's a government cop out (no pun intended) and I tend to agree with the comments made by the chairman of Manchester Police Federation.

Regards

George.

George,
I take it you have not read the rest of this thread, and the link to the press release from the police re this incident?

I suggest you do read the press release, and you will then see that the circs were far from clear cut.

Also, the pcso's I supervise try their hardest, and have achieved good results re their sphere of ops - they are not police officers, but do have powers a plenty to deal with what they were employed for.