GB's teen crime commisioner - should she step down?

[Castiel]

I think it is more a case of how well the youth relate to Miss Brown, as she is the one talking to them. I think the whole reason Barnes appointed her was because as an adult she recognised she was not the best person to do that role.

There are a vast range of experienced and professional people who deal with youth offenders and youth programmes across a wide range of youth concerns and needs however who would be far better suited to advising the PCC if she feels she is not suitable to represent a portion of those she was elected to represent.

Her role is both to talk to them and to represent their viewpoint back to the PCC. What would you suggest, getting the kids hanging under the lamp post to fill in a survey form?

Her role appears to have little definition other than being 'hands on'....again there are far more experienced people available that can more appropiately advice the PCC on how to tackle Youth Criminality. An inexperienced young person who will only hold the role for 12 months is not really an effective way of engaging young people, better if the PCC spent that money on program's and youth schemes which would engage these kids directly, therefore giving them both a voice and practical help, be it with employment or any other issue or concen they may have...if it is done in conjunction with Kent's other youth program's, schools, and the probation and social services then that would have a far better chance of actually reaching the kids that need help rather than appointing a 17 year old figurehead for 12 months based on a manifesto pledge.

I doubt any potential youth offender is going to take the young woman very seriously in the first place.

I'm sure she is not twiddling her thumbs while the 17 year old does the leg work. That she has partly paid for this role herself suggests to me that she takes it seriously, would you pay for a helper in your job?

I am sure she does take it seriously...however I would pay for a 'helper' but it would be someone both qualified and experienced in the area in which they are expected to perform.

That would be the fault of exploitative tabloids though?

Unfortunately dealing and exploiting the media is an integral part of her position...is she not supposed to be the 'voice' of the Kent Youth and advising a PCC on how to deal with Youth Offenders?

Everything is a gimmick until it is termed an innovation, the internet was a gimmick when it started.

Sometimes gimmicks are simply gimmicks....this will probably be one of them. The Internet was not a gimmick when it was started either, it was a research tool and a valid scientific area of research.

 

[s0ck]

Yes she should be sacked, without question. She is hardly a very good role model.

For who though? Strikes me as a very cunning appointment.

 

[V4NT0M]

The failing is not the child's... The failing is on the part of thw moron who thought up this scheme.

 

[bitslice]

There are a vast range of experienced and professional people who deal with youth offenders and youth programmes across a wide range of youth concerns and needs however who would be far better suited to advising the PCC if she feels she is not suitable to represent a portion of those she was elected to represent.

I'm unsure of whether you expect me to defend Browns suitability for the role or Barnes decision to create the role in the first place.

Her role appears to have little definition other than being 'hands on'....again there are far more experienced people available that can more appropiately advice the PCC on how to tackle Youth Criminality.

Yes it is a bit vague, although it doesn't say anything about advising the PCC on how to tackle youth crime, but to pass on the youths comments about their relationship with the police.
Experienced people no doubt have a role to play, but apparently this isn't that role.

I doubt any potential youth offender is going to take the young woman very seriously in the first place.

I don't think they are being asked to take her seriously, she is only there to listen to what they have to say, not to hand out Talk to Frank leaflets.

Unfortunately dealing and exploiting the media is an integral part of her position...is she not supposed to be the 'voice' of the Kent Youth and advising a PCC on how to deal with Youth Offenders?

Is it? I don't see why she would be expected to talk to the media, that's her bosses job.

Sometimes gimmicks are simply gimmicks....this will probably be one of them. The Internet was not a gimmick when it was started either, it was a research tool and a valid scientific area of research.

It was a gimmick for years, the first web page I remember on Mozilla was a webcam of a Scottish loch, before that it was a coffee machine that you could query for its status. Everything else was just Gophering FTP sites and scamming BBS access.

 

[IronWarrior]

Fire her and fire the idiot who thought of this idea and pushed it though.

 

[Angilion]

Compared to me she is, and by definition as she is under 18 (particulaly as she was as young as 14-16 when she made the remarks) she is still a Child.

Only by a bad and sloppy definition. Legally, she's a minor. Biologically, she's an adult (and was probably an adolescent when she made the earlier comments). She's not actually a child.

 

[V F]

Regardless, I don't think she is exactly representative of the youth population.


In the video she said youth are being pressured to grow up faster these days. Faster than when? My youth was pretty relaxed to be honest.

I was wondering that as well. Then I find this...

http://www.snapdeal.com/product/adore-paris-brown-bra/188739

Modelling for underwear? put on weight from pressure/depression? When I saw that hair for the first time, I shook my head. This is a role model? I'm still shocked as I type this, that she is 17. At 17 I was having the time of my life. Always outdoors at race events and very very active.

She comes across so fragile. I remember 17 year olds hardier than this in the 90s...

This kind of role for a 17 year old... I thought it was a send up.


I still can't get my head around how big so many teenagers are nowadays. I know not all are but seeing them come out schools or in high streets with their thunder thighs, it's a really different time from what I remember.


Heh, some of the article comments are amusing since I've discovered this story.

seffie • 19 hours ago −
It's a bit like putting the lunatic in charge of the asylum really.
79 •Reply•Share ›

jobsmith seffie • 19 hours ago
The Barnes woman?
15 •Reply•Share ›

adder seffie • 15 hours ago
Or giving a monkey dynamite to play with.
11 •Reply•Share ›

jagd1 seffie • 8 hours ago
Hello.....have you come for a tour or work experience.

 

[The Geezer]

I'm not sure what the job is but I am sure she is employed as role model and some sort of communications person for the youth of Kent and input to policing ideas for dealing with the young.

She is old enough to know what she tweeted would cause offence, lets be real she was brought up in our society therefore knows what is passable.

The girl is a bigot, she has been tweeting in that tone for a few years right upto a couple of weeks ago.

What do we do with bigots in our society, we stick them in the police WTF ?

 

[bitslice]

This is a role model?

Nobody has said she was supposed to be a role model, you've picked that up from press comments and repeated it as fact. It's just a liaison role.

The girl is a bigot

Oh give it a rest, she's hardly BNP pinup girl of the month for chrisakes,
I call gypos, ******, everyone calls gypos, ******. If we are expected to live up to some pathetic standard of political correctness right from the age of 14 then kill me now as I don't want to live in your ridiculous contrived society.

 

[The Geezer]

Oh give it a rest, she's hardly BNP pinup girl of the month for chrisakes,
I call gypos, ******, everyone calls gypos, ******. If we are expected to live up to some pathetic standard of political correctness right from the age of 14 then kill me now as I don't want to live in your ridiculous contrived society.

I never said she was a BNP pinup girl - you dragged that up from somewhere. Luckily I'm not everyone and choose to refer to traveller folks as gypsies if that's what they are.

This young woman has been tweeting for years and there is a pattern - you can choose to ignore it but when you put her in position which requires responsiblity then she is not the right person for the job

 

[Jono8]

Nobody has said she was supposed to be a role model, you've picked that up from press comments and repeated it as fact. It's just a liaison role.


Oh give it a rest, she's hardly BNP pinup girl of the month for chrisakes,
I call gypos, ******, everyone calls gypos, ******. If we are expected to live up to some pathetic standard of political correctness right from the age of 14 then kill me now as I don't want to live in your ridiculous contrived society.

I think you misunderstand what people mean by saying she is a a role model. Everyone is a role model/an example to follow for someone. Hiring her for his job doesn't make a very good case for not being a loud mouth drunkard, drug taker and violence sympathiser.

Also stop cherry picking a few of the less damning things she has said.

 

[bitslice]

I think you misunderstand what people mean by saying she is a a role model. Everyone is a role model/an example to follow for someone. Hiring her for his job doesn't make a very good case for not being a loud mouth drunkard, drug taker and violence sympathiser.

Also stop cherry picking a few of the less damning things she has said.

No, people and the press are specifically repeating this 'role model' thing like it was some kind of job description or an actual quote. It's not.

'violence sympathiser', looool, hardly thug life is it
Drugs, I'd imagine that most teenagers have tried it?
Drinking, OMG a teenager that drinks!!! Think of the children!
Racist - what was it? ******, illegals, and something else? Wow big deal, a teenager gobbling off. Let's not mention this on a forum where every week there are calls to send them all back, eh?

Really, it's like you are repeating the DM word for word, it's embarrassing.

Castiel as usual has made the only sane points so far. The rest of you are bandwagon jumping.

 

[Jono8]

No, people and the press are specifically repeating this 'role model' thing like it was some kind of job description or an actual quote. It's not.

'violence sympathiser', looool, hardly thug life is it
Drugs, I'd imagine that most teenagers have tried it?
Drinking, OMG a teenager that drinks!!! Think of the children!
Racist - what was it? ******, illegals, and something else? Wow big deal, a teenager gobbling off. Let's not mention this on a forum where every week there are calls to send them all back, eh?

Really, it's like you are repeating the DM word for word, it's embarrassing.

Castiel as usual has made the only sane points so far. The rest of you are bandwagon jumping.

Your the one bandwagon jumping. I'm not saying she is a racist or a homophobe. She is clearly not a pillar of society though and I knew far better people than her at 17 who would no doubt be far better and more deserving of that job. Teenagers that managed to carry themselves with more sophistication and intelligence and managed to abide by the law.

You seem to think every 16 or 17 year old drinks and takes drugs and mouths of at people uncontrollably and because you seem to think they all do it that that this is somehow justification that it is ok.

Strange

 

[Tefal]

but what demographic are they trying to reach by employing her?
A nice respectable teen won't be able to accurately comment on what teens really feel, our little one thinks her tweets make her more likely to follow her than ignore her

so your daughter thinks homophobic and racist tweets are the ones to follow?


some a1 parenting there

 

[[TW]Fox]

You misunderstood.

I'm not so sure he did. For all we know her 17th birthday could have been a few weeks ago, which changes the sentiment behind 'when she was 14-16' from 'ages ago when she was a child' to 'all the time until a few weeks ago'.

 

[V F]

Nobody has said she was supposed to be a role model, you've picked that up from press comments and repeated it as fact. It's just a liaison role.

It was a question, see the little question mark?

 

[FoxEye]

but what demographic are they trying to reach by employing her?
A nice respectable teen won't be able to accurately comment on what teens really feel, our little one thinks her tweets make her more likely to follow her than ignore her

How is is crap-talking spokesteen better than no spokesteen at all? How does her role benefit law enforcement?

I for one don't think people should "follow" the police on twitter or facebook. They aren't there for our entertainment. They're there essentially to enforce a minimum standard of human decency.

So a smack-talking spokesteen would seem to be either entirely pointless or counter-productive. Regardless of whether modern teens can "relate" or not.

 

[TheVoice]

I for one don't think people should "follow" the police on twitter or facebook. They aren't there for our entertainment. They're there essentially to enforce a minimum standard of human decency.

PR is important, and it's not just to make the police look good nor is it to provide entertainment to the public. It works both ways.

 

[wozzizname]

I can't help thinking that Anne Barnes, as an independent, is the indirect target of some of this - political parties aren't fond of independents in public positions, and I doubt the Mail would have been so keen on the story if Anne Barnes had been a Tory.

 

[Castiel]

I'm not so sure he did. For all we know her 17th birthday could have been a few weeks ago, which changes the sentiment behind 'when she was 14-16' from 'ages ago when she was a child' to 'all the time until a few weeks ago'.

She is only just 17 afaik...however that doesn't change the point being made that the poster misunderstood that the comments were made when she was 14-16, and they were not made recently (as in while she was applying or confirmed for the position). Even a period as short as 6 months is a long time for a teenager to mature and not be representative of the person they were only a year before. I don't think she should be castigated for the remarks like she is, although I am also not convinced that the position is an effective use of limited resources either.