Paris Brown: Kent Tweet row girl will not be prosecuted

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Is it only me who thinks there's been a quite scary over-reaction to these comments? Yes, the comments are quite stupid and bigoted but lots of people say bigoted and stupid things when they are teenagers. Some even join far-right (or far-left) groups in their formative years.

I don't think comments like this should ever be a matter for the police. As far as I know she wasn't threatening violence towards anyone, nor was she shouting abuse in the street. I find it worrying that this will hang over her for the rest of her life. To my mind, the furore over this has been massively disproportionate. A better way of dealing with it would, yes, to let her hang out to dry and let the public's reaction be the punishment, but also to allow her to recover and to learn from her mistakes.

That said, she's been an embarrassment to the position of Youth PCC and I think that the position should have been scrapped, as should the PCC position more generally. Without a proper direct democracy system, all these posts seem to do is to allow local politicians that can't get elected to national politics to take the piss out of public expenditure. (Clive Grunshaw, I'm looking at you.)

Thank God and the Founding Fathers for the First Amendment.

The idea that insult should be illegal is an abomination.

The only speech that -needs- legal protection is unpleasant speech.

ruveyn

I don't know any of the story and I have no comment on that part.

I've noticed this in Westminister-system governments, where local governments just get absorbed over time, and turn into patronage pits. I always found it odd in the UK, since a great many of those local governments pre-date parliment, but I guess it's same issue we had, the power to tax and spend always wins.

I'd give an example of another Westminster-system country that had a related issue, but one of our more...active PPR posters would probably throw a fit.

Basically, we have elected Police and Crime Commissioners. The entire election for them was a complete and utter farce, they seem to have very few powers, and the turnout was pitiful: around 15% in most counties.

But what is a Youth PCC? What do they do?

Paris Brown was the first Youth PCC in the UK. Ann Barnes Kent's PCC has a lot explaining to do she was the one who appointed Brown in the first place.

CSBurks I have no idea what the role of a Youth PCC entails, tho I do know that the appointment of a Youth PCC was one of Barnes' main manifesto pledges, for her campaign in the PCC elections.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-21335643

There has been a massive overreaction, that's for sure. At that age, people change a lot, very quickly. A simple apology and renounciation of some of the view presented should have been enough.

It is important that young people are involved more with the police in order to increase understanding between the youth and the police, so I am behind the idea of a YPCC. I'm not sure the general idea of PCCs is a great one though, but if they are scrapped then having a young person or two in the force who can deal with young people as a peer or something along those lines strikes me as a good idea.

The roof has fallen in! I agree with a statement made by The_Walrus! Pass the smelling salts, for feck's sake!



It's the sort of idea that could really work in a proper direct democracy system, where citizens feel highly connected with their law enforcement on a very local level and are fully empowered to take decisions. It doesn't work in the present system though - and to male it worse, the Government advertised - or, rather, didn't - it appallingly. The entire enterprise was an enormous cock-up, with obscenely low turnouts. (We got 15% in my county, which was exactly what I expected.)

I think we agree on most things that aren't Islam, tax, the welfare state, and global warming.

You forgot the twelve stars of doom.

Sorry, I'm confused... oh, the EU. Yeah. Thought you were making an oblique reference to Israel there.