Police Community Support Officers stood and let boy drown

[Mikeuk]

This is one of the most pathetic things I have ever read.

What is this country coming to?

Boy's drowning sparks demand to scrap PCSOs

By Matthew Moore and agencies



Police Community Support Officers are a "failed experiment" and should be scrapped, according to a senior member of the Police Federation.

He was speaking after it emerged that two PCSOs did not intervene to stop a 10-year-old boy from drowning because they were "not trained" to deal with the incident.

The officers - who have not been named - stood at the edge of a pond at a Wigan beauty spot as Jordon Lyon got into trouble while trying to rescue his eight-year-old step-sister Bethany Ganderton.

Two fishermen in their 60s jumped in and managed to save the girl, but the officers, who arrived at the scene shortly afterwards, did not attempt a rescue, deciding to wait until trained officers arrived.

Paul Kelly, chairman of the Manchester Police Federation, which represents police officers, said today that officers without life-saving skills were no use to the public.

"We've got to able to deal with all types of situations. We should do away with PCSOs because they are a failed experiment," he said.

"The public are being fooled. We are sending people out there who are dressed as police officers," he added.

advertisementAt the inquest into his death the boy's distraught parents demanded to know why more effort was not made to save their son, and why the two PCSOs were not called to give evidence.

Anthony Ganderton, Jordon's stepfather, said: "I don't know why they didn't go in. I can't understand it.

"If I had been walking along a canal and seen a child drowning I would have jumped in. You don't have to be trained to jump in after a drowning child."

Tracy Lyon, Jordon's mother, said: "I want them to be named. I want to know why they weren't at the inquest when I had to turn up there and go through the pain of it all."

In a statement after the hearing, a police spokesman defended the PCSOs, saying they were "not trained to deal with major incidents such as this".

"Both ourselves and the fire brigade regularly warn the public of the dangers of going into unknown stretches of water so it would have been inappropriate for PCSOs, who are not trained in water rescue, to enter the pond," Detective Chief Inspector Phil Owen, of Wigan CID, said.

PCSOs were brought in in 2002 to assist fully trained officers and provide a reassuring presence to the public. Critics claim they are ineffective and under-trained, and were only introduced to cut costs.

They receive four weeks training before starting their role. This training includes "race and diversity" and "health, safety and welfare", according to the Metropolitan Police website. The basic salary for a PCSO is £17,280.

The inquest heard there had been initial confusion over the location of the pond with trained officers sent to the wrong place. When the PCSOs arrived there were no signs of the boy in the water, police said.

The boy's stepfather and a friend waded into the pond in a desperate search for him and were joined minutes later by a uniformed officer who stripped off his body armour and dived in to help them.

Jordon was eventually pulled from the water at John Taylor's Pit but despite attempts to resuscitate him was later pronounced dead in hospital. A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

The Police Federation claims that 400 PCSOs have been recruited in Manchester in the last 18 months, at time when the number of police officers fell by more than 200.

"We should be investing in more police officers," Mr Kelly said.

[Westcountryman]

The search function is your friend.

Police Defend Drowning Death Case

[Mikeuk]

Ah sorry. I have posted on your thread now.

[Westcountryman]

Originally Posted by Mikeuk

Ah sorry. I have posted on your thread now.

No problem, it's just annoying following similar conversations in two places.