Surrey police threaten to arrest ‘annoying’ children playing sport in the street
by Anorak | 7th, October 2013
HOW’S that Olympic legacy getting on in Southville Road, Thames Ditton? Not all that well, it seems. Surrey police have issued a notice banning sport in the streets on pain of arrest. It is a criminal offence for children to play sport in the street. Cars had been hit by footballs.
The sports police decree:
“Playing football or other sports in the street is a criminal offence, particularly if someone is affected, such as being involved in an accident, or where the activity has caused them annoyance, alarm or distress.”
Annoying someone by shouting “goal”, pretending to be Jessica Ennis or riding your bike in the manner of Bradley Wiggins is a crime.
An Insp Hollingsworth then spoke:
“The main purpose of the flyer was to identify the concerns and emphasise the obvious dangers involved in playing in the road.”
If that’s so obvious why are the police involved? Isn’t that the job of parents and schools to teach?
The purpose of the flier was to criminalise children’s play and frighten them. He adds:
“Please accept my apologies for the way in which the leaflet put this message across and for any offence it may have caused.”
The Surrey Police spokeswoman said the wording was “a little bit unfortunate” and that threatening children in their homes was not a misconduct offence by their officers and was not done maliciously.
So. That’s all right, then…
Posted: 7th, October 2013 | In: Reviews, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
