Monday 9 November 2009

"...a regular churchgoer and a bookshop manager..."

...well, of course she was.

The police are hardly likely to target one of the feudin', fightin' underclass for this sort of action:
A mother who reprimanded her children at a supermarket was secretly followed by an off-duty policeman and interrogated by fellow officers who reported her to social services.
Odd. I've often seen people chastising children in public (though sadly, in some cases, not often enough) and it never occurred to me to do anything other than give a heartfelt 'thank god' that this mother or father, at least, was dealing with them.
During the visit, the officers asked the mother what forms of discipline she imposed on her 11-year-old son and four-year-old daughter.

When she admitted she occasionally gave them a smack ‘as a last resort’, they advised her to stick to the alternative methods she already used, such as withdrawing treats and banning television.
This is the job of the police now? To give 'advice' (of the Tony Soprano kind - take it or else there'll be consequences) on chastisement of children?
She later received a letter from the local council informing her that the ‘chastisement’ of her children in public had been put ‘on record’.
What country am I in?

It's still England, isn't it? Are you sure?
Hampshire Police confirmed that an off-duty officer had reported the incident to its child protection team.

A spokesman said: ‘It was not an ordinary telling-off and because of what the woman said and the way her children reacted to it, it gave our officer reasonable grounds for concern. We followed this up, as you would expect any police force to do.’
No, sweetie. I wouldn't.

I'd expect them to act if there were real concerns that children were being beaten by their parents, not threatened with (or even given) a smack. The fact that we are employing people who can't understand the difference is a disgrace.

But for anyone worried about the Secret Stasi next time the offspring are acting up in the crisps isle, there's always the Death Wispa... ;)

8 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

One of the hallmarks of an authoritarian state is that the punishment is inversely proportional to the offence.

Stan said...

It's very sad to see the state our nation is now in - and to see a once respected and globally envied police force - sorry police "service" - turned into the sort of thing that we once thanked our lucky stars was only seen in the more barking mad banana republics. It couldn't happen here, we used to say. It could and it did.

MTG said...

I have scrubbed my provisional comments in favour of a cleaned up version after tea, Julia.

Von Spreuth. said...

a regular churchgoer

Aye. So were Tomás de Torquemada, Matthew Hopkins, and, at the beginning, Stalin and Hitler and 99% of the I.R.A murderers.

Why is this always given as an indication of "good moral standing"?

Anonymous said...

She should report this Policeman under the anti stalking laws (1997 Protection from Harassment Act). The least they'd have to do is investigate it.

Apparently the law states that the harassment is very much in the eye of the beholder and the threshold is low, a few symtoms of "stress" is enough to set the wheels in motion. Let's hope she does something.

Joe Public said...

Perhaps if some of our Police were allowed to properly "chastise" the chavs & yobs, this country would be a better place in which to live.

JuliaM said...

"One of the hallmarks of an authoritarian state is that the punishment is inversely proportional to the offence."

We're fast heading there. In fact, I think we arrived some time ago, and no one noticed...

"It's very sad to see the state our nation is now in - and to see a once respected and globally envied police force - sorry police "service" - turned into the sort of thing that we once thanked our lucky stars was only seen in the more barking mad banana republics."

And we haven't even got the climate!

"Why is this always given as an indication of "good moral standing"?"

I suppose it depends on the religion. Anyone wondering if this lady would have got the same treatment if burkha clad?

"She should report this Policeman under the anti stalking laws (1997 Protection from Harassment Act). The least they'd have to do is investigate it."

But she'd better make sure she wasn't in the middle of decorating oor things may go worse for her...

"Perhaps if some of our Police were allowed to properly "chastise" the chavs & yobs, this country would be a better place in which to live."

I think it's too late for that. Too many of them are themselves chavs and yobs, it seems...

dr cromarty said...

Stalin and Hitler and 99% of the I.R.A murderers.

I would have thought Stalin and Hitler might not have done what they did if they had stayed regular churchgoers.

You got any accurate stats for the IRA assertion? PIRA were Marxist idealogues.