Sunday 12 September 2010

Why Did The PCSO Cross The Road?

The answer? He didn’t:
…a team of PCSOs was ordered to stop guiding pupils across a busy village road to get to church services. Their senior officers have told them they aren't qualified for the task.
D’oh!
The decision means Bentley St Paul's Primary in Pilgrims Hatch, Essex, faces having to pay almost £2,000 for two 'proper' policemen to do the job - otherwise the 210 pupils aged four to 11-year-olds would have to miss out on services in future.
No doubt someone will suggest that a way out of this dilemma is for the school to simply dispense with the church services…

But it seems that, once again, it’s the ‘where there’s blame…’ culture at the heart of this:
Inspector Jasmine Frost said the force's PCSOs 'are not trained for crossing the road'.

She added: 'We sought advice from our headquarters and they said that under no circumstances should we use PCSOs because if something happened we would be liable.

'In the current economic times we cannot dedicate [regular] police officers in this way.'
Unless you get paid for them, of course!

Parents aren’t impressed:
Parent Claire Palmer said: 'I would have thought this is exactly the sort of thing a community officer should be able to do. It just seems ridiculous.'

Optometrist Jane Herrington, whose nine-year-old son attends the school, added: 'If they are not trained to do this, you wonder what they are trained to do.'
Very little.

But they are absolutely brilliant at unlawfully harassing photographers, it has to be said!
The Mail contacted ten forces to see if their PCSOs received traffic management training.

Of these, seven - Bedfordshire, Greater Manchester, Lincolnshire, Northumbria, Thames Valley, West Midlands and the Met said their officers were qualified to handle traffic.
Whew!
West Yorkshire said its officers were able to 'regulate the flow of traffic' at major events but could not stop traffic to allow pedestrians to cross a road.
Huh..?!?

Still, at least they bothered to reply…
Norfolk and North Wales failed to confirm whether or not their PCSOs received training.
They didn’t know? They couldn’t be arsed to find out?

18 comments:

Sue said...

Well, they're not a bad wage. Starting Salary : £18,006 plus 12.5% shift allowance.

Cushy job walking around the street bullying soft targets.

Pavlov's Cat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pavlov's Cat said...

Why Did The PCSO Cross The Road?

and there was me thinking it was to avoid the gang of unruly youths making everyones life a misery so they could fine an OAP for dropping a crisp

Ranter said...

Whatever happened to lollipop ladies (and the occasional bloke)?

Jiks said...

PCSO's - perfect example of our taxes being used to not only add nothing to our lives but to take stuff away.

Sack the lot of them.

MTG said...

In my village we no longer tolerate such unacceptable risks.

PCSO's are only allowed out on dry, sunny days and an alarm sounds if their tether is broken. A road safety officer provides permanent escort and they are constantly reminded not to speak to strangers.

Akvavitix said...

Oh for chrissake!!! Can't the bloody parents take care of their own kids? Why does the state have to provide ANYBODY at all? FFS, does nobody in this god forsaken country take responsibility for their own shit anymore?

PJH said...

They didn’t know? They couldn’t be arsed to find out?

Too embarrassed by the answer?

KenS said...

...faces having to pay almost £2,000 for two 'proper' policemen to do the job

What? £2000 a day? £2000 a week? A month? No, actually,

The school will now have to find £1,888 each year - £472 to hire two officers for four hours four times a year, which works out at £59 per hour.

It's (less than) £2000 a year, which doesn't seem like a bad deal. Even though, and it isn't clear from your blog JM, or from the original story until you read all the way, it is only four times a year that the kiddywinkies trek to the church; there was me thinking they were doing it daily.

Fascist Hippy said...

Kids missing out on any sort of church service is all right by me. They are all bloody nonsense and just fill the head of a child with unbelievable rubbish, sky pixies just do not exist! Religions, at their outset, were designed by the governing few, the so called elite, to keep the public controlled and in order, I must say however that until the majority of people wised up to the scam, religions did do a better job than their modern day replacement CCTV!

Furor Teutonicus said...

Inspector Jasmine Frost said the force's PCSOs 'are not trained for crossing the road'.

THEY may not be. But can they help OTHERS to do so?

Furor Teutonicus said...

So, does that mean they are only allowed to patrol one city block? Or do they have to call a policeman to go further?

I mean if it means crossing a road, for which, as we have been told, they are not trained, it could cause all KINDS of mayhem with insurance and the H+S fairies.

In fact think about it;

They are not trained to arrest anybody, they are not trained to rescue drowning children, now we hear they are not trained to cross the road.

What ARE they trained in?

JuliaM said...

"Well, they're not a bad wage."

Not bad, foe someone with, it seems, fewer responsibilities than a burger seller...

"...perfect example of our taxes being used to not only add nothing to our lives but to take stuff away."

Quite!

"Why does the state have to provide ANYBODY at all? "

I'm guessing because they are at work? And the teachers won't accept the road safety responsibility?

"...it is only four times a year that the kiddywinkies trek to the church; there was me thinking they were doing it daily."

Yup - I'd assume Easter, Harvest Festival, Christmas...

"So, does that mean they are only allowed to patrol one city block? Or do they have to call a policeman to go further? "

I expect they are allowed to use crossings, so long as they hold each other's hand and look both ways... ;)

PJH said...

"...it is only four times a year that the kiddywinkies trek to the church; there was me thinking they were doing it daily."

Yup - I'd assume Easter, Harvest Festival, Christmas...


Halloween? Eid ul-Fitr? Deepavali?

;)

blueknight said...

...to get to church services.
You can bet that there would be a different outcome if they were showing children across the road to a Mosque

Leg-iron said...

Furor - if they ever try to arrest you, just cross the street. They can't follow you unless Mummy is with them.

If they try, report them to Elfin Safety and watch the system eat itself.

JuliaM said...

"Furor - if they ever try to arrest you, just cross the street. They can't follow you unless Mummy is with them."

:D

Furor Teutonicus said...

If they COULD arrest, it would not be too ba.....oh shit....I have just spotted the hole in that logic.

Never mind me. It is late and I should be long tucked up with my teddy bear and a large mug of mulled rum.