I think the Police delt with the family quite well. It's not like they charged in, restrained the kids and hand-kuffed the parents. The appropriate action was taken, instead of being charged with criminal damage they were advised of what their kids were doing was wrong and were given nothing more than a caution. The Police waited 20 minutes, enough chance for the parents to stop their kids from doing more damage. For the 20 flowers the kids had between them, a further 50-60 or so where left damaged. The parents are definitely in the wrong on this one and the kids learnt a lesson.

 

******* forgotten already!

 

I didn't know Suggs and the boys were back together and putting new material out for release.

They need to reconsider the title of new album though; it's a bit of a mouthful.

 

^^^ fatherpierre, I don't wish to suggest your jokes are predictable, but there are, as-of-yet, undiscovered tribes in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, who knew you were going to say that.

 

I like how people are going into the technicalities of picking flowers here. What a bunch of saps! Usually that's a guardian reader's speciality... just about crying at the sight of something so petty.

We don't know the facts here, but either way it's bloody pathetic getting the police involved in something like this. Did whoever reported them not have the ***** to say something themselves? Some sad people about.

 

So, you and your family are enjoying a walk through your local park (that the Council had spent quite a considerable amount of money planting flowers so local residents could enjoy them) and you see 3 young male youths running through the flowers kicking them all over the place and causing mindless damage. You would think that that is ok would you? 3 kids destroying what is, although not the crime of the century, destroying something that other take pleasure in.

I don't particularly like flowers. But i do like my local parks to look warm and welcoming, rather than just a field with grass everywhere.

 

Not half as annoying as a sap coming on a thread without reading it properly. It appears someone DID speak out first.

 

Pun intended?

 

Hardly a sap. Real men aren't concerned with details!

 

 

I must admit I'm quite surprised by your take on this.

It was more than picking a couple of flowers and whilst at their age they may have known no better the parents should, and should have dealt with the little buggers. Perhaps if that had happened, the police wouldn't have been called.

Plus, considering you (like myself) think respect is becoming more rare, I would have thought you would actually support somebody stepping in, when the parents obviously didn't care.

 

It's a shame the police aren't this quick to turn up when your cars been stolen, your home broken into or some old doris has been mugged etc!!

 

Yeah...........

 

hit the nail on the head.

 

Turn a negative into a positive and mention daffodils when reporting any of the above.

"Hello, I'd like to report a stolen car. It was last seen with 2 children in the boot disturbing my daffodils"

It might just work.

"Hello, I'd like to report a house break-in. It appears my daffodils have been trodden down and in some cases the heads have been pulled off"

Looking good, eh?

"Hello, I'd like to report that some old doris has just been mugged by daffodil wielding thugs"

Has to work!

 

lol

 

I'd have called it: Daffodil Madness.

If you Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next should have been a lesson to anyone.

 

How is this a 2 page thread... ahh the "Daily Mail Affect".

Kids "picking" flowers. Cops called. Advice given. Everyone happy.

Now, becuase the cops showed up its "OTT police again" etc etc. Christ, they did not baton the kids or lock up the parents. They said, scuse me, thats not a good idea... and everyone agreed and went on their way.

If the cops had not shown up the DM photographer would have been there in a flash showing the carnage of 1000s, perhaps millions, of flowers everywhere and how the cops "ignored" the calls for help, screams of the locals etc etc.

Complete w**k.

 

surely it's simple

if they are nice middle class parents, then a momentary lapse by exhausted parents and inquisitive children - with slight over reaction from plod

if the parents were Gypsies -- scum, simple as that, ferral children, thick parents, lock them up or deport them to Japan

 

Would any of you let your children rip up clumps of flowers from a park?

I certainly would not, and think the Police were right to attend.

 

I have to say that I got the impression from the link that tthe children had picked a few daffodils, about ten each or so. The coppers had been watching for a while as well. Did not seem from that that they were tearing the flower plants out of the ground. Surely if they had been then the coppers would have stopped them earlier.

I certainly don't support vandalism of course, and agree that parents should be responsible enough to control their children. Wonder where the council got the idea that they were ripping them out in clumps.

I commented with the impression that I had in mind from the description of the incident.

Les

 

Leslie

What would you have prefered to happen...?

 

Well, as i said earlier. iam a Head Gardener in a park and we have considerable vandalism to flower beds and daff dislays each year.
That "ten" flower heads ripped off each day soon addds up and means therse nothing left.

Les, i know its not the crime of the century but its very frustrating to the staff and the decent members of the public, to see what would of been a great display of spring flowers reduced to nothing- be that because of people helping themselves and other lowlifes such as horrible teenagers or even young kids who should be taught right from wrong by there parents ( though i suspect there parents are "undesirables", so no hope for the kids!)

From your replies, i know you seem to think its all petty but it wrecks flower beds that would bring pleasure to many people and id put money on it that a lot of these kids/"adults" would also derive pleasure from keying your car or worse- those young unsupervised kids will be tommorows trouble!!

 

I understand exactly what you are saying and agree with your frustration when people destroy your handiwork. I would feel just the same of course.

My impression from the originaL post and the link was that the girls were not being so destructive as to rip the place apart and that they picked a few flowers as any child might do.

I wondered why if they were causing serious damage as the councillor reported that the coppers watched the girls for twenty minutes instead of stopping their actions immediately. Seemed a big waste of police time. It was not as though they were tearing clumps of daffodil plants out of the ground.

The councillor himself could have attended and told the parents that the children were acting illegally if he felt that strongly about it.

It seemed over the top to call out two coppers for what appeared to be a minor infringement especially when we hear that these days it is difficult to get a copper to come out at all if a significant crime has been committed, or at best that they will arrive when it is all over anyway.

Perhap's Felix could tell us if he would have spent 20 minutes of his valuable time watching the girls.

Les

 

Given Northants police cannot be bothered respond to a 999 that became a murder i would say 2 officers observing daffodills being picked by children was overkill

http://81.187.243.53/blog/?p=3181

 

Now that is a shocking story.

 

Just flicking through this thread, didn’t the person approach the parent’s but got a load of abuse from them. If that’s the case, then where is his next port of call? Does he just walk off and ignore the matter. Would he be ok with everyone picking flowers from the park when ever we want.

I suspect that 20 minutes is a bit of an over estimate, but the police would probably have observed the pair whilst speaking with the caller to ensure it was the right 2.

I wouldn’t have spent that long on this, but if it’s a simple telling off of the girls and the parents and there is a police unit nearby – then why not use them.

As for the 2 ignoring the murder – don’t put me in the same barrow as them. That’s totally unacceptable. Where we are, we end up getting stood down from calls as there are too many of us shouting up for them.

 

The Local councillor did correct in informing the police
He would of probably got a load of abuse from the parents himself who should be encouraging the kids not to pick flowers

Police are there to act on any reports
I'm a councillor myself and any of us would have done exactly the same thing
We spend a lot of tax payers money and lots of time in making our town look nice and erect
Please don't pick the flowers signs to stop this sort of thing


Our local police are so desperate for jobs

I got 10 koi stolen a few years ago and had 7 police attend


Neighbours must of thought I'd murdered the misses

 

I certainly agree that signs to say not to pick the flowers is the first and most obvious step when it comes to protecting them.

Les

 

Surly thats obvious though, not to pick flowers from a park. Besides people tend to ignore signs these days - no parking, 30mph etc