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16 year olds taken on as PCSOs
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
Personally i'm astonished, i've yet to meet a 16 year old with the maturity required to deal with some of the shit we face day in day out. I work with an 18 year old who doesn't have the life experience to tie his shoe laces correctly.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20070813/tuk-16-year-olds-to-be-support-officers-6323e80_1.html
:no:
How would you lot feel about being detained by a kid....?
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20070813/tuk-16-year-olds-to-be-support-officers-6323e80_1.html
:no:
How would you lot feel about being detained by a kid....?
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
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I know of plenty of 16 year olds who could deal with the responsibility; just because you don't know of any, doesn't mean there aren't any?
Honestly, if I was approached by a kid in uniform, I would have thought they had acquired the outfit somehow and were taking the piss.
From the website:
I'm sure they're a damn sight cheaper too.
I get paid more than a PC, although they get paid more after 3/4 years.
You know a 16 year old who would:
Be able to approach a group of people, one of whom has just seriously assaulted someone and detain them?
Be able to talk down a drunk?
Tell someone their child has just died?
Deal with a neighbour dispute that has been ongoing for years?
Confiscate alcohol from an 18 year old who you suspect has bee supplying it to kids?
It's a fair criticisim though (I can't remember who said it in the link). The clinic where I just left, if you can replace a doctor with a nurse to do the same task, it's done. If you can replace a nurse with a healthcare assistant to do the same job, it's done. That's healthcare though, and going off topic, but as I said, if I saw a 16 year old doing that, I'd think it was a joke.
Whowhere if I was you i'd feel pretty shit about it knowing that they think a 16 year old is capable of doing what you do. It's a joke.
:yes:
That said, if you get them doing the right kind of things it could work, things like getting the local youth on side.
:yes:
They should stay at Cop Cadets until they're 20.
They play there part though in helping with crime.
As for taking on 16 year olds, personally i would tell them to go get a job until they were 18 and experience a bit of life themselves before they try dealing with life in general.
And I'd have thought that somebody who knows person A would be a better person to ask for information about person A than somebody who doesn't know them, no matter what the case is.
Ditto confiscating alcohol.
Anywhoo, most PCs seem like kids to me these days
Well yeah, but you also have to recognise that there are situations where their ages would be a factor that may limit their effectiveness in doing their job. For example, there are plenty of situations where a black police officer would be preferable to a white one, purely because he is black, or a female police officer would be better able to carry out a particular duty purely because she is female. It may be a result of people's prejudices, but then that's unfortunately what police officers have to deal with. And I can think of far more situations where the fact that they're not an adult would be an issue, but then that's up to their bosses to decide, I guess. People's attitudes will change in time though. I have no doubt that the first female officers were greeted with assumptions that they wouldn't be taken as seriously as a man.
Bit like getting a parking ticket from a cop who's just parked on double yellows to go to the shop, really.
They're straight out of school ffs.
Yeh, but no 16 year old is going to tell me what to do, they'll be pretty ineffective.
Yeah, I was thinking that. What calibre of applicants must they have when a 16 year old with poor qualifications (presumably, or why wouldn't they be in college) and zero experience is the best they have to pick from? From what I can tell, it's not like the army or and apprenticship, where they're going to have a period of intensive training before they go anywhere near the job by themselves.
I don't know any responsible 18 month old babies? Does your argument mean that there are some???
Hehehe! Hey! I'm kidding. I just didn't have anything constructive to say ... :rolleyes:
It is an offence for an under 18 year old to enter certain licensed premises or to see an 18 rated film, again a 16 year old PCSO entering one of these places would be breaking the law.....
I didn't think pcso's had the power of arrest?
Yes, plus depending on force area power to detain.
Power to detain is the same as a police officer's power of arrest BUT in order to excise the power you have to have asked the person's name and address and either
Not been given a name and/or address
Been given a name/address that you suspect is false (which unless they have ID on them is most of the time).
Once name and address have been established the person is released and are dealt with by way of summons/fixed penalty unless whilst detained another offence comes to light for which they can be arrested/you detained them for a public order offence and fear a breach of the peace if they are released.
To be fair, its not like they're going to be arresting anyone and such, they're only going to be PCSOs which is a much less hands on job role than being a standard police constable in my opinion.