Community Support Workers refuse to rescue 10yr old as not properly trained......

[Wisteria]

here

Hope there was more to this than apparent. Would you need proper 'training' to rescue a 10yr old?
This is procedural bollocks in my humblest of opinions - you would have thought it would be a no-brainer, see drowning child, jump in, no?

[saggarmakersbottomknocker]

I thought the same Wisteria - even as a passerby you'd make some sort of attempt wouldn't you?

[cushioncover]

I agree. Apparently, they said they hadn't received life-saving training so procedure was to call for back-up. Of course that's what we'd all think if a child was drowning in front of us!

You can tell that the chief constable is gobsmacked by their 'adherence' to procedure as he's called for PCSOs to be scrapped.

for the child and his family.

[wheresthehamster]

The only possible excuse they could have is that they couldn't swim.
Otherwise it's shocking

[Upwind]

Even if you could not swim you would not call for back up first - you would offer an arm, a leg, any convenient piece of wood or branch!!! Or even run screaming until you found someone who could swim.

Every second counts

[FluffyMummy123]

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[FluffyMummy123]

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[hifi]

even if i was going against proceedure surely most people would have dealt with the consequences later?

[Theclosetpagan]

We don't know the circumstances though - the river may well have been swollen and dangerous in which case it would be foolish to enter the water.
So sad for the parents. Can understand why they are asking questions.

[suedonim]

I saw the parents interviewed on TV today, it was heartbreaking.

[LittleBella]

I think there is more to this than meets the eye.

This was a deep lake with very black water with poor visibility, according to the police spokesman and by the time they got there, the boy had been submerged for some time and was probably already dead. It's quite a specialist task to find a body in those circumstances. Those officers weren't trained to do that. So all they would have been doing by jumping in, was risking their own lives without actually saving the poor boy's. They made the right call, by the sounds of it. Tragic, but not really a jobsworth story once you get a few more details.

[LittleBella]

Apparantly even real police officers no longer have to have life-saving skills.

[Theclosetpagan]

Thought there might be more to it LB - thanks for posting that info. So sad though.

[Twiglett]

if you actually read the article it says that they arrived on the scene when the child was not in sight

now patently there were adults there helping rescue the sister, the child slipped under the water then .. these adults didn't go in for a reason surely?

it was open water, which is dangerous and without the right equipment .. if you just go in and flail about its like the camel and the needle

I think this is sloppy reporting of an incredibly tragic case

[Twiglett]

sorry LB x-post .. got waylaid by kids whilst writing

[Upwind]

The first story was very misleading

The bbc website now has this statement

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7007081.stm

[Marne]

I would jump in a river to save a child without thinking, yes the wer'nt trained to deal with it but niether were the 2 passer's by who saved his little sister. I would'nt stop and think (you would'nt have time.

This does'nt shock me, i was watching one of those police programs on the tv a few weeks ago and they showed a young man (drunk) jump into a river/cannal outside a bar, the police were called and they just stood there as passer's by searched for the man, they said they were not trained to deal with it and it was far too dark and cold to find him. Divers were called in and they found him, dragged him out but it was too late.

[LittleBella]

No probs!

The report say that anglers managed to drag the girl out, so they also made the decision not to go in after the boy. Sounds like actually, they were on the scene. They don't appear to have come in for the same criticism as the PCSO's. But there must have been a reason they didn't manage to rescue the boy either - after all, they were there on the scene, unlike the officers.

[Twiglett]

Told you it was sloppy reporting

.. sighs for long-lost time of integrity in journalism

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

What time of year was it? JUmping into cold water is very very dangerous and I would not blame anyone for not doing it in the winter or spring. OTOH, a pond or a lake in summer or autumn should be fine.

[Upwind]

Yes, I feel very sorry for those PCSOs the insinuations of the first BBC article were really horrible.

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

Oh, just checked the article - early May. Water is likely to still be dangerously cold then, though I've swum at that time of year when the weather was good.

[Upwind]

"Again it is important to stress that Jordon had not been seen for some time before their arrival. The inquest established that, tragically, at the time of the PCSOs' arrival, Jordan was probably dead."

It seems it was a lake not a pond and there was no realistic hope of saving the poor boy. There is no reason to assume that the PCSOs were strong swimmers either.

[JeremyVile]

Parents were interviewed on TV earlier.
They shouldn't have been given air time to blame the PCOSs for their sons death.

[Upwind]

I am really that the BBC chose to report it in this way and did not bother to check their facts first.

The parents must feel horribly guilty that the left an 8 and 10 year old unsupervised at a dangerous lake. That should not give them any right to publicly put the blame on others.

[FluffyMummy123]

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