ENOUGH`S ENOUGH. INNIT ?
This is the crestfallen Paris Brown, Kent`s new Police Commissioner for Youth. Her predicament has hit the headlines and been the subject of much media attention,so I don`t need to go on about the background too much here. Perhaps suffice to say that if Ms. Brown was `selected` from 164 applicants for the post, one struggles to come to terms with the qualities of the other 163.
Of course, it may not be Ms. Brown`s fault and I do have some sympathy with a young person thrust into the media spotlight and palpably struggling to cope. So my criticism will not be directed towards her personally but rather towards the concept of a Police Youth Commissioner and the antics of the real Police Commissioner for the blighted county of Kent.
Now according to Kent`s Police Commissioner, Ann Barnes, the role of the Youth Commissioner will be `to build a bridge between the world of young people and policing. This will be a hands on role and I`ll be relying on Paris to guide my office on how we can deliver a better service for all young people in the county and tackle youth offending.` Which, of course, fully justifies the £15,000 salary, the car and office support.
Now what surprises me here is that Mrs. Barnes seems blissfully unaware of the other existing sources of advice about young people, their problems, priorities and aspirations. There`s the Kent Youth Service, a Kent Youth Parliament and a host of others, not least the Police on the beat and especially the Community Support Officers who keep their ears to the ground and know what`s happening locally on the streets. But of course, the Youth Commissioner was a manifesto pledge given by Mrs. Barnes when she stood supposedly as an independent candidate alongside the usual suspects from the political parties. So maybe she thought she ought to honour that pledge.
Trouble is, the elections for Police Commissioners received probably the lowest voting turnout for any election ever, such was the antipathy shown by the public towards a daft and expensive system which is already beginning to show rifts in its lute. Now I would be very surprised indeed if there wasn`t at least one of Mrs. Barnes advisers who took her to one side and politely suggested that going through with her manifesto pledge would simply invite an accident waiting to happen - a banana skin awaiting her slippage - and that the good folk of Kent would hardly notice or even care too much if her less than beezer wheeze to have a Youth Commissioner was quietly forgotten.
As it is, not only is the unfortunate Paris Brown having an entirely avoidable experience but once again the money of the Kent taxpayers is being squandered on the altar of political tokenism and leaving Mrs. Barnes`s with a credibility gap that will be difficult to narrow. Surely, enough`s enough. Innit?
Now according to Kent`s Police Commissioner, Ann Barnes, the role of the Youth Commissioner will be `to build a bridge between the world of young people and policing. This will be a hands on role and I`ll be relying on Paris to guide my office on how we can deliver a better service for all young people in the county and tackle youth offending.` Which, of course, fully justifies the £15,000 salary, the car and office support.
Now what surprises me here is that Mrs. Barnes seems blissfully unaware of the other existing sources of advice about young people, their problems, priorities and aspirations. There`s the Kent Youth Service, a Kent Youth Parliament and a host of others, not least the Police on the beat and especially the Community Support Officers who keep their ears to the ground and know what`s happening locally on the streets. But of course, the Youth Commissioner was a manifesto pledge given by Mrs. Barnes when she stood supposedly as an independent candidate alongside the usual suspects from the political parties. So maybe she thought she ought to honour that pledge.
Trouble is, the elections for Police Commissioners received probably the lowest voting turnout for any election ever, such was the antipathy shown by the public towards a daft and expensive system which is already beginning to show rifts in its lute. Now I would be very surprised indeed if there wasn`t at least one of Mrs. Barnes advisers who took her to one side and politely suggested that going through with her manifesto pledge would simply invite an accident waiting to happen - a banana skin awaiting her slippage - and that the good folk of Kent would hardly notice or even care too much if her less than beezer wheeze to have a Youth Commissioner was quietly forgotten.
As it is, not only is the unfortunate Paris Brown having an entirely avoidable experience but once again the money of the Kent taxpayers is being squandered on the altar of political tokenism and leaving Mrs. Barnes`s with a credibility gap that will be difficult to narrow. Surely, enough`s enough. Innit?
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