PC Martin Hudd: On the beat in Bristol
Children have been the main focus of our policing duties this week, due to a planned operation which had taken place in the Bristol East area.
On Thursday, officers from Fishponds police station engaged in Operation Stay Safe, which is a multi-agency approach to address children out on the streets between 6pm and 1am the following morning, who are either deemed to be vulnerable due to their age or vulnerable due to the circumstances in which they are found.
A team of beat managers assisted by their police community support colleagues were out on patrol in the Hillfields and Speedwell area and it didn't take long before we quickly found a young 12-year-old lad who, in company with older boys, had sustained a small injury to his knee - not in itself a major issue but when we spoke to this young lad he began to use terminology associated with knives and knife crimes stating that he had been "shanked", a term which means stabbed. Although this wasn't the case, we felt he was vulnerable and therefore took him to a place of safety set up nearby.
On arrival he was spoken to by a more senior police officer, members of the youth service and social services, whilst a responsible adult came to collect him.
Moments later, officers came across two 13-year-old girls in possession of alcohol and although mum was nearby and explained the children had "escaped" from a nearby house party being supervised by adults, their details were obtained and social services informed.
As the evening drew to a close we had time to deal with a 12-year-old female walking around the streets on her own - it also transpired there was an arrest warrant out for her so this was dealt with before she was taken home and her mother spoken to.
Is this a cost effective use of taxpayers' money?
Well, this is the first time I have been involved in this type of operation and I would say yes, the reason being that it not only protects vulnerable children, it also brings to their parents' attention what their children are getting up to when they are out with mates.
Even more importantly it puts the spotlight on the parents who think "out of sight, is out of mind" in that the police will not hesitate to involve outside agencies to address what in some cases can only be described as neglect when these children are found roaming the streets.
We went off-duty encouraged that, at least for a short time, young children on these two estates had been cared for and looked after, and their parents made aware of their own parental responsibilities, which unless adhered to will be followed up by the other agencies involved.
3 Comments
by Grahame P, Central Bristol
Sunday, November 08 2009, 9:43AM
“Communities have to use the police to sweep up children from the streets and address social chaos because we're politically unwilling to address the one common factor at the core. Parents who refuse to take responsibility for their offspring, and parents who raise them irresponsibly aren't held to account.
In France, parents are held accountable for the actions of their children. If there's vandalism, then the parent of that child pays to clean it up. Criminal damage and it's the parent who pays the compensation. In our country, when a child commits multiple offences, he or she might get an ASBO eventually. In France, the parents get fined.
Once, when talking to a local politician, I suggested to him we change our laws to make parents accountable for the actions and behaviour of their children. He was horrified. I rather think he saw his core vote plummeting and he remarked that such a change would unfairly penalise the poorest. For the life of me I can't see the link between being poor and behaving badly, other than the obvious; those who behave badly effectively condemn themselves to be poor. Nonetheless, I can't see this should be an excuse for bad behaviour, or why our society shouldn't apply financial sanctions to the benefits of those who refuse to act responsibly.
It isn't a police officer who should be keeping a twelve year old girl in at night, it's her parents. There's only one way to make some people take responsibility for their offspring and that's remove their beer and fag money when they don't. But I'm afraid PC Hudd and his colleagues will be expected to nanny badly behaved kids until such time as politicians start putting a demand for parental responsibility before their own desire for votes.”
by hannah, bristol
Thursday, November 05 2009, 12:22PM
“Parents who are raising kids like this should be pulled up and made to take parenting classes how the hell can they just let their kids wander? and not even knowing what they are up to. i know where mine are 24 hours a day.”
by Juliet Bravo, Bristol
Thursday, November 05 2009, 10:01AM
“Interesting and rewarding work... but when social services have recordered the details and parents have collected their children what options are available to combat this problem long term? The police here are clearly doing a fantastic job but there should be a system in place through social services which identifies young peoples interests, offers them arange of creative opportunities and gives them access to clubs, societies, teams, groups and advise. If the parents are poor then these opportunities should be funded to the interest groups through direct payments by social services. Suddenly a new world opens up for young excluded people to join dramatic societies, scouts, youth clubs, outings and much more. It sounds as through the parents could also benefit by a similar arrangement.”