…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'.Unless you get paid for them, of course!
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.'
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.'Very little.
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.'
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.Whew!
Of these, seven - Bedfordshire, Greater Manchester, Lincolnshire, Northumbria, Thames Valley, West Midlands and the Met said their officers were qualified to handle traffic.
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?
Well, they're not a bad wage. Starting Salary : £18,006 plus 12.5% shift allowance.
ReplyDeleteCushy job walking around the street bullying soft targets.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhy Did The PCSO Cross The Road?
ReplyDeleteand 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
Whatever happened to lollipop ladies (and the occasional bloke)?
ReplyDeletePCSO's - perfect example of our taxes being used to not only add nothing to our lives but to take stuff away.
ReplyDeleteSack the lot of them.
In my village we no longer tolerate such unacceptable risks.
ReplyDeletePCSO'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.
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?
ReplyDeleteThey didn’t know? They couldn’t be arsed to find out?
ReplyDeleteToo embarrassed by the answer?
...faces having to pay almost £2,000 for two 'proper' policemen to do the job
ReplyDeleteWhat? £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.
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!
ReplyDeleteInspector Jasmine Frost said the force's PCSOs 'are not trained for crossing the road'.
ReplyDeleteTHEY may not be. But can they help OTHERS to do so?
So, does that mean they are only allowed to patrol one city block? Or do they have to call a policeman to go further?
ReplyDeleteI 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?
"Well, they're not a bad wage."
ReplyDeleteNot 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... ;)
"...it is only four times a year that the kiddywinkies trek to the church; there was me thinking they were doing it daily."
ReplyDeleteYup - I'd assume Easter, Harvest Festival, Christmas...
Halloween? Eid ul-Fitr? Deepavali?
;)
...to get to church services.
ReplyDeleteYou can bet that there would be a different outcome if they were showing children across the road to a Mosque
Furor - if they ever try to arrest you, just cross the street. They can't follow you unless Mummy is with them.
ReplyDeleteIf they try, report them to Elfin Safety and watch the system eat itself.
"Furor - if they ever try to arrest you, just cross the street. They can't follow you unless Mummy is with them."
ReplyDelete:D
If they COULD arrest, it would not be too ba.....oh shit....I have just spotted the hole in that logic.
ReplyDeleteNever mind me. It is late and I should be long tucked up with my teddy bear and a large mug of mulled rum.