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Kids Today

rynner2

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Seems it's not just old farts like me who worry about the nations youth...

Time magazine features Britain's violent youth
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:56am GMT 28/03/2008

Britain's problems with binge-drinking and youth violence are held up to the world today by the American magazine Time.

The front cover of its international edition pictures a "hoodie" and mugshots of other young men over a Union flag.

Its headline reads: "Unhappy, Unloved, and Out of Control - An epidemic of violence, crime and drunkenness has made Britain scared of its young."

The weekly magazine, which goes on newsstands today across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, cites a survey by the children's charity TS Rebel which found last year that more than a fifth of Britons avoided going out at night rather than risk encounters with groups of intimidating youths.

A 3,200-word article, spread over several pages, comments: "It's easy to see why. The boys and girls who casually pick fights, have sex and keep the emergency services fully occupied are often fuelled by cheap booze."

It reports that British youngsters drink far more than their European counterparts, are more frequently involved in violence, are more likely to try drugs and that English girls are the most sexually active in Europe.

"Small wonder, then, that a 2007 Unicef study of child well-being in 21 industrialized countries placed Britain firmly at the bottom of the table," the article states.

The magazine, which has a circulation of four million, will also feature the article in its US editions, providing further embarrassment to the Government.

An ambitious target of halving child poverty by 2010, set during Tony Blair's premiership, is unlikely to be reached, Time says.

It states: "The British have a long propensity to recoil in horror from their children-whether they be Teddy boys in the 1950s, mods and rockers in the 60s, skinheads in the 70s or just a bunch of boisterous teens making a lot of noise but little real mischief.

"But it is also true that for what Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children's Society, calls a "significant minority" of British children, unhappiness - and the criminality, excessive drinking and drug-taking and promiscuity that is its expression - really have created a crisis.

"All over the world, teenagers give their parents headaches. Why are the migraines induced by British kids felt across a whole society?

"Part of the reason may be that parents aren't always around to help socialise their children - or even just to show them affection.

"Compared to other cultures, British kids are less integrated into the adult world and spend more time with peers.

"Add to the mix a class structure that impedes social mobility and an education system that rewards the advantaged, and some children are bound to be left in the cold."

The article expresses particular concern at Britain's binge-drinking culture.

"Alcohol Concern noted that one in three British men and one in five women drink double the amount considered safe at least once a week," it says, citing pictures of Princes William and Harry leaving nightclubs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ime128.xml
 
rynner said:
Seems it's not just old farts like me who worry about the nations youth...

Time magazine features Britain's violent youth
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:56am GMT 28/03/2008

...

"Small wonder, then, that a 2007 Unicef study of child well-being in 21 industrialized countries placed Britain firmly at the bottom of the table," the article states.

...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ime128.xml
And, guess which N°1 World Power and major Industrialized Nation, came 20th, in that league table?

http://www.unicef.org/media/files/ChildPovertyReport.pdf

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-14-unicef-child-wellbeing_x.htm

UNICEF ranks well-being of British, U.S. children last in industrialized world

USA Today. 2/14/2007

BERLIN (AP) — British and American children are among the worst off in the industrialized world, according to a U.N. report Wednesday that ranked the two countries at the bottom of 21 wealthy countries in children's well-being.

...

"The United Kingdom and the United States find themselves in the bottom third of the rankings for five of the six dimensions reviewed," UNICEF said in a summary of the report.

...
Poor Yanks, they really have to scrape the bottom of the barrel, to maintain their feelings of superiority, these days. Whereas, the British can take comfort in the fact that we've become a little bit more like our American cousins.

:rofl:
 
escargot1 said:
If any Brits'd like to put their money where their mouth is and actually do something about youth crime, how about becomng a Youth Offender Panel Member?

You get training, snacks, expenses and an interesting experience. Plus, you're helping your own community. :D
Not heard of that before, Scarg, but I've already emailed my county contact about it, before I get cold feet!

Being a retired gnarly old git gives me time to spare, and it could prove a good use of my time.

(Might have to restrain my Flog 'em all! tendencies, though! ;) )
 
You'll love it. I do. :D

I also work in my local court and so see t'Beaks sentencing youngsters. The sentence includes seeing the Panel regularly, which means gasp meeting me. Poor litle sods. :(
 
It's (predominantly) a class thing like pretty much everything in Britain.
 
Thats cos we dont respect decent, upper class people anymore.

Look at those arch chavs, and paragons of our culture, the BBC.
 
'Upper Classes' are a very small minority of our population.

And the point i was making isn't that there's a lack of respect for 'higher' classes; it's a lack of respect for anyone.

It's true that the vast preponderance of violent crime and social breakdown is occuring in the... for want of a better marker... C2s and below. I think this is a Anglo-American thing, tbh. The link just doesn't seem nearly as strong in the other (Asian and European) countries i am familar enough with to compare. We aren't talking about stealing bread for the nippers here. There's a growing generation of barbarians in our cities. (At least the thug[ee]s had beliefs...)
 
"Add to the mix a class structure that impedes social mobility and an education system that rewards the advantaged, and some children are bound to be left in the cold."

Also, this is a bit lazy.
There's almost certainly a case to be made, but this is just crude.
 
theyithian said:
"Add to the mix a class structure that impedes social mobility and an education system that rewards the advantaged, and some children are bound to be left in the cold."

Also, this is a bit lazy.
There's almost certainly a case to be made, but this is just crude.

I was just thinking exactly the same thing about exactly the same points.

I wouldn't argue that 'class' is not still an issue, but I think things have changed so much that the usage of that word is too often misleading and quite frankly I'd do away with it completely. I think some foriegn pundits tend to use the 'class' thing with reference to British society in order to imply, simply because that particular word does not appear to sit so easily side by side with mention of say America or France, that their own societies are not also stratified. The rules appear to be different - the result's exactly the same.
 
Let's kill teacher: Astonishing plot of armed pupils aged eight and nine
By PAUL THOMPSON Last updated at 12:17pm on 4th April 2008

The plot had been planned with military precision and the group was well armed.

Each member had been given a role, from keeping watch to mopping up the blood afterwards.

But this wasn't a gangland murder. It was a group of eight and nine-year-old primary school children preparing to attack their teacher in an act of revenge.

Police believe the pupils were intent on killing 60-year-old Belle Carter.

The murder plot, which has astonished America, was foiled after another pupil spotted a knife in the ringleader's backpack and tipped off teachers.

Police were called to the Centre Elementary School, in Waycross, Georgia, where a search of desks and lockers uncovered the weapons and equipment.

The haul included a nine-inch steak knife, a glass paperweight, handcuffs, duct tape and electrical tape.

Nine children from the school were found to be involved in the plot.

Police believe the group - led by a nine-year-old girl - had planned to smash the paperweight over Mrs Carter's head.

Once they had disabled her they would have bound her with the tape and used the knife to stab her.

Police believe the nine-year-old ringleader wanted revenge on the teacher after being told off for standing on her chair in class. :shock:

Officers think she recruited her friends, telling them to bring in the weapons needed.

Members of the group were also given roles, such as standing guard and cleaning up afterwards.

Police chief Tony Tanner said the plot had to be taken seriously despite the age of those involved.

He said: "We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely. I'm shocked.

"We have great kids, we have a great community and it surprised each and every one of us that this type of planning would take place.

"Of course we have the student, just like everybody else has the student that gets mad at the teacher and occasionally says, 'Well I'm going to kill the teacher'. But in this case it's very unusual that they devised such an elaborate plan."

Education officials have suspended all nine pupils involved. Georgia law prohibits bringing adult criminal charges against those under 13 but places no age limit on children being sent to juvenile court.

Sentences include writing letters of apology to victims, attending 60-day juvenile boot camps and being locked up in detention centres.

The suspected mastermind, another nine-year-old girl, and an eight-year-old boy have been charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds and conspiracy to assault the teacher.

All are in the custody of their parents or guardians pending juvenile court proceedings.

Mrs Carter, a former teacher of the year at the 500-pupil school, teaches children with learning problems including attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity.

She has returned to school but has refused to make any comment. Mrs Carter has been teaching for 40 years and is due to retire next year.

The plot has stunned families in Waycross, a town of 15,000 on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp.

One resident, Euleathia Harris, said: "They were so young, I just couldn't believe it."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770
 
Long article: begins...

Locked up for smacking my son ... How a slap brought police and social services in to tear a family apart
By SUSAN POPE Last updated at 00:52am on 6th April 2008

There was nothing ominous about the knock at the door, but when I pulled it open I was confronted by four police officers and our street was thick with panda cars.

This is not a scene you see too often in our home village of Great Malvern, not even if there has been a rare burglary in the respectable part of Worcestershire where we live happily among other decent, law-abiding families.

But the police were not coming to our aid. Instead they were coming to arrest me and my husband Folke for child abuse.

Looking me straight in the eye the officer said: "We are about to arrest you for cruelty and neglect to Guy Pope."

Guy is our 11-year-old son. And my crime? Smacking him once after he had ignored my warnings to stop his temper tantrum and repeated swearing.

He and his 16-year-old brother, Oliver, had then concocted a tissue of lies claiming we had starved and beaten them and - far worse in their eyes - refused to let them have their games consoles.

But rather than examining my well-fed younger son and his unmarked, if rebellious brother, the police had called in social services and arrested us.

Folke and I were about to be thrown in police cells for the next 32 hours, interrogated by detectives and warned we would be facing charges.

Worst of all, we would see our children placed on the child protection register by social workers who believe an isolated smack is child abuse.

Nearly a year later I've lost my job at a private school - and my unblemished career with it - and my family is still subject to the whims of the social services because, I believe, we had the temerity to fight our corner.

For all the heartache, however, I can appreciate a certain bitter irony in finding myself in this position.

I worked with children throughout my 25-year career as a nurse - first in paediatrics and A&E, and latterly at Malvern St James, a local all-girls private school.

I am aware of the boundaries when it comes to discipline inside and outside the home, but if society needs boundaries to avoid anarchy, then so do children.

...............

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/f ... ge_id=1879
 
rynner said:
He and his 16-year-old brother, Oliver, had then concocted a tissue of lies claiming we had starved and beaten them and - far worse in their eyes - refused to let them have their games consoles.

I hope they were either given up for adoption shortly after this stunt.
 
[quote="theyithian]I hope they were either given up for adoption shortly after this stunt.[/quote]

Would anyone have them? :roll:
 
On a much lighter note, this:-

Under the baby bonnet – or how dads can pass the toddler MOT
By Jeremy Watson and Kieran Westbrook

THEY taught a generation who didn't know a spanner from a wrench how to lavish tender loving care on their internal combustion engines.

Haynes' manuals were the must-have gift for amateur mechanics who loved tinkering under the bonnet of their most prized possession.

Now, the manuals have turned their attention to a notoriously temperamental model which has a well-earned reputation for erratic behaviour.

Toddler Owners' Workshop Manual… The Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Toddlers combines practical advice on dealing with the heartache of temper tantrums with tongue-in-cheek suggestions on how to handle the apple of your eye.

It includes tips on how to avoid filling your supermarket trolley with sweets and how to cope with the traumas of with family travel. It also looks at how to prevent high velocity accidents between small ones, as well as coping with medical emergencies.

The author, Dr Ian Banks, said publishing lists were flooded with self-help manuals for mothers, but the needs of fathers had been neglected.

"If a child gets a rash then the mum will pop round next door to a more experienced neighbour who will say: 'Oh yes, my son had that.' Dad will either ignore it or go 'bloody hell, it's meningitis' and rush the child off to casualty. I hope the book will help them to react in a more calm and measured way to situations they may not have encountered.

"With cars, men always knew there was a Haynes manual for their model. This is aimed at giving them the information they need to deal with this new chapter in their life, only this time it's a toddler and not a Ford Cortina.

"Men get very frustrated at this period of their child's life because they don't really know what to do."

Banks, who has two sons and two daughters, believes the toddler stage is important for both children and fathers, as it is the time in development when both realise they are interested in each other.

"Babies are not that much interested in their fathers, they much prefer their mums. But when they turn into toddlers they realise there is another human being in the house who is important to them. Dads are the one who whirl them around and throw them in the air.

"It's a very exciting time for toddlers and for fathers who suddenly find themselves flavour of the month."

One father who believes the book could be a godsend is Iain Boyle, an Edinburgh property manager, who has two sons, Danny, three, and one-year-old Charlie.

"I have had a look at the book and it's definitely something I could have done with when Danny reached toddler stage," he said. "I had no experience of kids at all and it came as something of a culture shock. It would have been good to have had a book to consult."

Psychologists said men would welcome some help with dealing with toddlers.

Dr Douglas Young, a development consultant and director of HRPD Associates, said: "There is certainly a need for young fathers to be educated in these matters. The problem is: are heterosexual men ready for it or do they want to play the 'macho man' game? Often the answer these days is yes."

How the book was packaged and marketed was critical to its success, Young added. "Women are always trying to get men to attend antenatal classes and a book like that could be a good thing to give out because the father's work doesn't really start, except for changing nappies, until the child is a toddler.

"Selling it as a 'man's book', as a toolkit, would appeal to men, because men tend to like fixing things and solving things."

Dr Cynthia McVey, the head of psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, said more men than ever before were becoming the principal care-giver for their children.

"If we consider that women might be a different animal then perhaps men need a different approach to how to take care of their toddlers," she said.

"If we went back 50 years, a book like this would never have been considered. The woman's role was in the home as the principal care-giver and the man's job was to earn the money, come home and then be looked after – like the toddler."

The key was how the information was delivered to fathers. "A man might browse through a book written in this jokey manner and find that the style of it suits him better. It could be a novel way of getting the message across."

But McVey offered a word of caution. "The father might find this car-like approach quite appealing, but of course the important thing to remember is that children are not machines and toddlers will rarely behave the way you expect them to." Haynes has provided information for motorists with their car manuals for almost 50 years, so the company said it seemed natural to offer the same style of information for the family as well.

Sales and marketing director Jeremy Yates-Round said: "Men always need help with their cars and we know they need help with their toddlers. Now we can help with both."

[more]

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Und ... 3952465.jp

I always found bashing the brats round the head with a heavy spanner worked wonders! :twisted:
 
Oddly enough, Amazon doesn't have this book listed - but there is a copy for sale on eBay!
 
"Kiddie been OK, darling?"

"Making funny noises all the time. Looked in the book but it's the usual Haynes' arse so I dropped him off at the garage."

"How long will he be in for?"

"Couldn't wait so I part-exchanged him for a purple hatchback."

"Cool. I could never fit all the shopping in the backside of the kid!" :shock:
 
Children crying abuse is something that's occured to me recently. Fortunately it should be easy to tell if they're lying... unless they don't bother to check, as appears to be the case here.
 
Does this manaul cover all models??

The up to date ones with computer problems as well as the old fashioned type you can fix with the `comes with` toolkit?

I have already got three cars, I dont need a toddler as well....
 
Binge drinking caused teen's liver failure at 14
Last Updated: 1:26am BST 15/04/2008

A teenager has told how her binge drinking caused her liver to fail at the age of 14.

Natasha Farnham, who is now 18, is believed to be the youngest person in Britain to be diagnosed with alcohol-related liver failure, claims the charity British Liver Failure.

She started drinking at 12 and within a year was consuming up to six bottles of wine a day.

Two years later she was taken to hospital after drinking 16 bottles of wine, cider and spirits in three days.

Doctors diagnosed liver failure - usually suffered by middle-aged alcoholics - and told her to stop drinking. But she ignored the warning and has gone into rehabilitation at the age of 18.

Doctors tell her that she will die if she drinks again.

Miss Farnham now has memory loss problems.

"I didn't think my drinking was a problem because all my friends were getting wasted as well," she said.

"I suppose I thought I looked grown-up and would drink as much as possible - sometimes even passing out.

"But now I have no short term memory and doctors warn me that if I drink any more I will die.

"I would just tell kids - don't end up like me. I have been a binge drinker, had liver failure and been in rehab and I'm still a teenager."

Miss Farnham, of Twerton, in Bath, had her first alcohol when she was 12, drinking a bottle of cider.

She became an "alcoholic drop-out" and stopped attending school at 14. She committed burglaries to buy alcohol and is now unemployed.

Sarah Matthews, a spokesman for British Liver Failure, said: "I am sure this is the youngest Briton to suffer from liver failure as a result of excessive drinking and still be alive. It shows how binge drinking has a fatal grip on Britain."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... lth215.xml

This is a bigger problem than just 'kids' - what does this say about our society when a young girl can drink this much without any apparent effective response from parents, schools, social workers, police, etc?

We are all DOOMED!
:(
 
Why yes, Rynner, exactly what I was going to say.

Where were her parents? (not to mention her friends parents)

I mean, even a big wine cellar, if you take out six bottles a day, is going to get suspiciously empty pretty soon.

and if she wasnt raiding the wine cellar, as I assume, who was selling her that amount regularly. I know I used to buy alcohol at 14, but I looked harmless and wasnt drunk, and back then there were less checks like the off licences and supermarkets are always springing on us 35 year olds to check we are not teens.
 
Re the 'human' manuals - this is nothing new. I had a 'Womans Body - Owner's Manual' in the mid 70s and have since seen a similar one for blokes and for children, and even a car manual-type guide to cancer for men.
 
Haynes do a range of manuals for all sorts of non-car stuff.

Here.
 
Ah yes, a couple of those look familiar.

A R4 comedienne last week swore that she'd seen a 'Complete Idiot's Guide To Sex'. :lol:
 
Back to the darker side of modern yoof:

The Chavfather: Self-styled junior mafia boss who led rampaging gang of 50 walks free... and can't even be named
Last updated at 09:00am on 16th April 2008

A teenage gang leader known as "the Chavfather" who led a mob of 50 youths on a two-hour drunken rampage in a seaside town has walked free from court.

The 17-year-old, who styles himself a junior mafia boss, terrorised a young family in the street and threatened to beat up a policeman before he was finally dragged away.

His night of shame was detailed in court - but he continues to enjoy anonymity as he is under 18 and magistrates say his welfare might be at risk if his name is revealed. :roll:

And a magistrate told the youth he would not be facing custody when he is sentenced at a later date. :shock:

The mayhem began at around 7pm on April 4 when the gang gathered in the centre of Eastbourne, East Sussex, knocking off car wing mirrors, pulling up trees and yelling abuse at anyone who crossed their path.

By 9pm they had assembled outside a McDonald's restaurant and began throwing drink cans and burger containers at passers-by.

At one stage, the 17-year-old spotted a family of four, including two children aged under ten, and tried to challenge the father to a fight, Eastbourne youth court was told.

Prosecutor Claire Prodger said police officers were called to McDonald's.

"They could see the situation was getting out of hand and radioed for back-up," she said.

"At this point, the defendant turned on one of the officers and shouted, "Come on then, you fat ****".

"The officer was backed into a corner by a large group of drunk and highly volatile teenagers, while the defendant raised his fist and continued to shout, "You fat b******, I'll ****ing whack you.

"The officer feared for his safety and radioed for further back-up."

Police spent more than an hour trying to wrestle bottles off the yobs plus a further hour to bring in the ringleader.

After being dragged "kicking and screaming" into the police station, he gave his name as 'Mickey Mouse', telling police: "It's none of your ****ing business who I am."

In an interview, he admitted drinking seven cans of Stella Artois and three vodkas before leaving home, then continued to drink beer and spirits in the street.

At the time of the offence, the 17-year-old, who lives in Eastbourne, was already on bail for two charges of violence and had a previous conviction for affray.

He admitted making threats of violence and resisting a police officer on April 4 - offences that carry a maximum tariff of six months' custody-and one month respectively.

But magistrates decided to give him a second chance and put off his case for reports. :evil:

Magistrate Chris Blessington told him: "You are out of control. When you drink, you get aggressive, and that must stop now."

After the hearing a police source said: "It is absolutely ridiculous that this idiot cannot be named and shamed.

"He's a total nightmare and local residents should be well aware of who he is for their own protection."

While those under 18 are automatically-anonymous in the youth court, magistrates have the power to lift reporting restrictions in serious cases.

One friend of the 17-year-old said yesterday: "He reckons he's the boss of us lot and he loves it when he gets called the Chavfather.

"He reckons he came up with the name while he was watching Marlon Brando in The Godfather. It started off as a bit of a joke but seems to have stuck."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... =1770&ct=5

Why don't we lock such people up? Oh, silly me, the prisons are full, aren't they? :roll:
 
Shocking figures show Britain's gun-toting culture is spreading to under-10s
By TOM HARPER
Last updated at 22:57pm on 19th April 2008

Police in the UK have caught 47 children under ten carrying guns in the past three years – but could give them only warnings because they are too young for prosecution.

They were seized with pistols, air rifles and imitation guns that had been converted into real weapons. In the same period, 127 under-tens were caught with knives.

The trend was described as outrageous by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis. He said: "These shocking figures show that Labour's failure to tackle violent crime and its causes – such as drugs and family breakdown – is betraying our young people to lives of misery.

"It is outrageous that Britain's tragic epidemic of gun and knife crime is reaching our primary schools to such an extent."

The figures were revealed by 34 police forces under Freedom of Information laws. Seven forces did not supply data.

Cumbria Police had the greatest number of offenders, with 13 under-tens caught in possession of a firearm.

Northamptonshire Police were the only force to provide details of incidents.

• In 2006 an eight-year-old stole his father's 'ball-bearing' gun and shot a passer-by several times in the leg. • In 2005, a nine-year-old was found with a lock knife during a stop-and-search in Northampton town centre.

• In another case, a boy aged eight was reprimanded after attacking a group of children with a pen knife.

The statistics heap pressure on a Government whose policies on gun and knife crime have come under intense scrutiny.

Since the beginning of 2007, there have been almost 40 fatal shootings and stabbings of children in London alone. And last week, a 17-year old was charged with the murder of Rhys Jones, the 11-year-old boy shot dead in a Liverpool car park last year.

At a gun crime summit at Downing Street last year, senior police officers told the then Home Secretary John Reid that youngsters as young as eight were being forced to carry guns for older gang members seeking to escape prosecution themselves.

In September last year, it emerged that almost 3,000 crimes were committed by children under ten.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We know that when young people carry weapons, they do so largely out of fear. We are working on a new £1million marketing campaign aimed at challenging the glamour, fear and peer pressure that can drive youngsters to crime."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770
 
In 2005, a nine-year-old was found with a lock knife during a stop-and-search in Northampton town centre.

That was me. They are so much safer than non locking knives.

Obviously back then there were no stop and searches. Nor would the cops have cared if they did find one on you, as long as you wernt doing something stupid with it.

(Like stabbing your mates, which did go on)

The police should not glamourise these things I think.
 
Meet the bedtime beat bobby: The village PC who marches children home if they break their parents' curfew
By REBECCA CAMBER Last updated at 09:22am on 21st April 2008

Shortly after becoming a village bobby Andy Watkins found a 12-year-old boy wandering the streets around midnight.

He phoned the youngster's parents and it turned out that they thought their son was at a friend's house for a sleepover, so the PC escorted him home to face their wrath.

And that was how he became the bedtime beat bobby of Sturminster Marshall.

PC Watkins has launched a curfew scheme with parents in the Dorset village to make sure children aren't out when they should be tucked up at home.

The 45-year-old beat officer has collected a list of names and addresses of local youths aged between 11 and 17 and found out from their parents what time they are due home at night.

When he encounters a youth staying out late, PC Watkins marches them home.

The curfew scheme is part of an anti-social behaviour drive to combat binge drinking and stop yobs intimidating older residents.

PC Watkins, who was also inspired by his father, Graham a beat bobby in the 1960s in the Cotswolds, now hopes to expand his scheme into neighbouring villages.

"When I moved here last November I stopped a 12-year-old lad at 11.50pm," he said.

"His parents thought he was on a sleepover at a mate's house. I took him home to his mum to face the music.

"Since then I've come across quite a few. It's predominantly lads with alcohol. There had been complaints about youths hanging around at night and I wanted to do something about it.

"When I was growing up my father was a policeman and he would know all the names of the youths where we lived.

"He knew what time they should be in and what their parents would say if they stayed out. I've just formalised the process."

PC Watkins, who has been a policeman for 26 years and has an 11-year- old daughter, launched his Parent Support Pledge last month.

So far, 12 sets of parents have signed up to the voluntary project. He has been inundated with requests from families to register their teenagers but wants more parents in the three villages he patrols - Sturminster Marshall, Shapwick and Pamphill - to sign up.

PC Watkins, who also runs a youth club in the village, has only had to escort three youngsters home so far, but he claims to have met no resistance from teenagers.

He added: "By registering with me parents are not saying their son or daughter is a yob or a problem child. It is purely a safeguard.

"The parents fill out a form which names the child and gives their date of birth, address and their curfew time for a week night and a weekend.

"When I am out on patrol at night and see a lad out after their curfew I ring their parents to inform them and then escort them back home if that is what the family wish.

"I leave the telling off to the parents but if they are doing something that they shouldn't, like drinking alcohol, then I will have a word with them. It isn't a free taxi service. If I call the parents and they can come and pick them up, they will."

PC Watkins, who moved to Sturminster Marshall from Boscombe in November, works late-shifts every third week but is changing his shifts frequently to keep youngsters on their toes.

The curfew patrol has been welcomed by villagers. Local councillor Sonia Cade said: "Anti-social behaviour was quite a serious problem in Sturminster Marshall.

"There was a lot of intimidation of older people by youngsters. This has acted as a powerful deterrent. People feel a lot safer and easier at night now."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770

Some years back, in my previous residence, I got indirectly involved with some kids out late. I got up about 3am for a pee, and glancing out the window, saw a group of about 5 kids, aged 10 to 14 I guessed, larking about in the main street. They were hiding in an alley whenever a car went by.

I reported this to the police, and shortly after a police car came whizzing up the road, whereupon the kids disappeared in the alley again. Dumb Cops, I thought, but it turned out that this was part of a cunning plan! Other police had in fact crept up from the other direction, and knowing where the kids were from my report, they soon rousted them out and caught them all!

I never heard any more about this, so I guess they couldn't actually charge the kids with anything, but they obviously gave them a good talking to, and I hope told their parents too.

(I thought I'd posted this story before, but I can't find it - maybe it happened when I was computerless for a while.)
 
This is a good idea but it only works if both parents and cops are prepared to bother.
 
A good idea indeed, but isn't this just how it used to work with the village bobby.
They knew everyone and if you were caught up to no good then they told your mum.
 
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