A policeman in the supermarket ,would you do this?

[girlfriend44]

This morning there was a policeman doing some shopping in the supermarket.

A family walked past and when the dad noticed the policeman in the aisle he said to his little girl.
Look there's a policeman. If your naughty round the supermarket he will take you away to prison. The little girl. Just listened and didn't say anything .
He made sure she saw the policeman and as said told her he would take her to prison if she was naughty.
The policeman never heard but I did . I was right by them
Would you do this?
AIBU to think it's a bit odd.

Yes, as I said. It’s crappy in a way.

would I say it? No.

am I Pearl Clutching over it? No.

It’s not odd- it’s not a good idea, but hardly outrageous. I wouldn’t do it myself

Jesus, it's not like he was teaching his child that 'snitches get stiches' or shouting 'Fuck da police' at him. He said that if she was naughty the policeman would take her to prison. I mean the chap was greatly simplifying matters (I presume the child wouldn't have been receptive to a lecture on the respective roles of the police, the CPS and the judiciary), and it was exaggerated for effect, but that is sort of how it works.

It’s a silly dad joke, nothing more or less.

Thankfully that’s not a crime…yet!

I’m an ex police officer and it used to really annoy me when parents said this. I’d always say that’s not true, we are here to help you and look after children like you. It’s lazy parenting imo

Police have to turn that kind of thing down.

Not once though did I have anyone try to pay for my sandwiches 😂

I agree it's wrong.
People used to say things like that years ago but all it does at best is make the child behave at that particular moment. But once the child realises that what the adult says is untrue it will have no effect at all. And could even make them behave even worse.
It can also make them afraid of the police rather than see them as someone who could help them if they were in trouble.

Totally agree. When my kids were little the police were people they would be told to go to if they were in trouble. Not people to be feared.

Although there are a lot of adults with dodgy pasts or dodgy friends/relatives who do fear the police.

I’m not clutching any pearls either. The OP asked if was ok, and it isn’t.

It's fairly common, so not odd in that sense. But it's shit parenting, to outsource your authority to another adult and to use threats of punishment to try to get good behaviour.

I also wouldn't encourage total acceptance that someone who appears to be a police officer is automatically a trusted adult.

I once, at work, had a parent tell a child to be good or they’d have the doctor give them an injection. I think the idiot parent felt about 2 inches high by the time I had finished explaining how cruel it was to make it harder to treat their child, and how psychologically harmful it could be if they actually needed an injection, but assumed the parent had organised it to punish them.

So no one else’s dad got them in a head lock as a child and went “this one here officer, I’ve got her here” as a police car drove past. Just me?

People have been saying that to their kids since forever, but personally I think it's an unhelpful message to give little kids who can't contextualise it.

My mum told my brother, when he was about three, that if he kept playing up in the car, the police we'd just passed, would come and tell him off.

We had a chain on our front door, that locked with a key. He got a stool, locked the front door, then threw the key out the letterbox, we then had to wait for a visitor to be released.

He was scared the police were going to come.

I always tell my (adult) DS to "quick , hide" when we hear a siren "duck down in your seat so they don't see you" (passenger)
He gives me a hoo'er of a look !

Mine did! It's now obvious that that was the root of my deep-seated loathing of the police, and why I am now a hardened criminal with a rap sheet as long as my (prison tattooed) arm.

Yea I think one should see police officers as people who can help you, to go to when in trouble. Not as a creepy threat. If she was mid tantrum I might be desperate enough to say something like ‘do you want that policeman to take me away’?

DH is a copper and hears this all the time. It really annoys him and says that it means children don't understand that a police officer is there to help you in the overwhelming main. But people still say it. See also, "can I piss in your helmet?" And "go on guv it's him you're looking for [points at equally drunk mate] nab him quick."

Yes, it is rather odd. I'd just say that the guy was a pillock and a shit parent.

Police are people. They have to shop in the supermarkets just like the rest of us.

Of course it's odd!

Wrongly. The policeman could have been a father himself.

Yes it’s horrible. Having been married to a policeman they hate when parents say this
What happens if this wee girl needs help, she’ll be terrified to speak to a police officer.
If the girl was naughty the parents not disciplining her themselves but expecting the police to do something is shit

A copper would give you a clip round the ear when I was a kid. The father was teaching the girl to have some respect.

To say he'll take you to prison also. Wow.

Children should see Police Officers as people to trust and go to if they need help.

They should, but as a PP said the blind acceptance of people in power as trusted is daft. See all the abhorrent cases of sexual assault, racism, assault, murder etc performed at the hands of them.