Youngsters out late at night without a good reason could be rounded up and taken to a children’s centre as part of a new scheme.
Southend Council’s youth offending service would then contact parents to pick up their children, or have them returned home by officers.
A Southend Council Youth Offending Team Officer is shown, hard at work, to the right.
The council has received a £65,000 grant from the Government towards the Youth Crime Action Plan, and this is one of a number of measures set to be introduced.
Carol Compton, head of the youth offending service, said: “We recognise the need to focus on the concerns and priorities of the community. We want to send a strong measure to young people in the town that they must play by the rules.”
But instead, you’re sending a strong message to the chav community that their spawn can get a free ride home, courtesy of the taxpayer, if they stay out too late at night. Well done, thou good and faithful servant!
Police or council workers would take the youngsters to one of 12 Surestart centres in Southend, which have been built to provide advice and care facilities for parents and children.
No wonder Polly always raves about ‘SureStart’ – an underclass babysitting and late-night taxi service. And all paid for by the taxpayer! What’s not to like?
However, there have been concern raised by some councillors, who hope the policy would not be too heavy handed.
Ian Robertson, councillor responsible for public protection, said: “It obviously makes sense to keep youngsters who are causing trouble off the streets.
“But I have concerns there could be difficulties in operating this policy.
Youngsters who have a real reason for being in a certain place late at night could become mixed up with it through no fault of their own. As with all these policies, enforcement can sometimes be a problem and we would have to make sure we got things right.”
Well, I’m sure we could count on the public sector workers to make the right decisions when faced with this judgement call. What could possibly go wrong?
A Southend Council Youth Offending Team Officer is shown, hard at work, to the right.
6 comments:
Sorry, TWELVE SureStart childrens' centres in Southend alone?
I sort of had a peripheral involvement in these things a few years ago and they're massive, with a really big catchment area.
Have we abandoned family responsibility to our children so completely that a middling-sized town like Southend "needs" twelve of these places?
What's a "Surrealist Centre"? Or am I dyslexic?
Mark Wadsworth.
Pardon?
I arrived here for the first time via the utterly fabulous Blue Eyes blog and was not disappointed - startling post. You can't make it up. Have you made it up? What's sad is that this is entirely believable and no-one is surprised.
"We want to send a strong measure to young people in the town that they must play by the rules..."
..or zey VILL BE PUNISHED!!
Actually I think Hitler Youth was originally called 'sicherer Anfang'. Which of course has nothing whatsoever to do with Gordon Brown mooting the idea of youth training schemes for boys aged 10yrs+ called the Brown-shirts. Youth serves the leader! Unity in govement and a leader who consolidates his vision for the future through inspiring the young. Warms your heart doesn't it? Apparently Brown is extending this idea to older boys who might be inclined to offend and he's naming these compulsory training schemes after a nice film - storm troopers he's going to call them. Lovely.
"TWELVE SureStart childrens' centres in Southend alone?"
Startling, isn't it? Of course, Southend is quite a commuter town, with two rail lines serving London, so SureStart's function of ensuring mothers go out to work is well fulfilled here...
"I arrived here for the first time via the utterly fabulous Blue Eyes blog and was not disappointed - startling post. You can't make it up. Have you made it up?"
Welcome Philipa :)
No, my imagination isn't that good. Sadly, these days, no-one could make up anything as barmy as what happens in real life, could they?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that also know as kidnapping and false imprisonment?
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