Ok, i have name changed so as not to be outed in case someone might know me.
I am a probation officer. I am on maternity leave.
I went to the local Zoo today, and as i arrived the local community service mini bus pulled in at 1pm with a group of offenders.
We paid £20 to get in for DH and I (DD free as a toddler). We took about half hour-45 mins to get to where the offenders were 'working' near the cheatahs, there were about 8 of them, supervised by a female probation worker. They were sweeping leaves and were in our way, they stared at us as we moved past them, refused to move out of our way (they did not know me) luckily I was not intiminated by them as I work with them most of the time. The supervisor did not recognise me, not surprising as I work in the office, she works out of the office.
Two of the offenders were when we first got to were they were, vaguely sweeping some leaves from the path, of sorts. The others were sort of hanging around looking at the animals there, near us, laughing and joking, throwing leaves at each other. The supervisor was joking with another offender, both standing around, there was no authority there, no direction of the offenders and their work.
As we walked around, so did the offenders, picking up their wheelbarrow and moving to a different location every 20 mins or so, after doing actually doing anything where they were. They got in our way as we tried to see the cheatahs as they were looking too, DH had to ask at several intervals for them to move aside so we could pass to get to our destination. They did, after the first lot of sweeping, no work that we could see, one pile of leaves. hardly anything considering the amount there was on the floor. They were clearly enjoying looking at the animals and having a good time, as good a time as us. Then, as we walked back to the car, they were all ambling back to their bus (3pm), one of them said to the supervisor 'are we finished for the day yet' and she said 'not yet, we can't get away with leaving this early, we will wait in the bus for a bit'.
I was getting more and more annoyed as we walked around, as they were potentially quite intimidating, swearing and joking with each other, doing the minimum work possible.
That i guess is to be expected, but the supervisor should have been doing more to well supervise them, to demonstrate publically that they were working hard, that she had some control of the situation.
They were not dressed appropriately for the work, no welly boots, no coats, gloves etc and it was cold. I am also aware, whether rightly or wrongly that they are now meant to wear reflective jackets, they were not and there was no distinction between them and the supervisor, DH had to ask me who it was as he did not know.
DH said he would have been happy to sweep some leaves for 1 hour or so in return for a free trip to the Zoo.
My issues are:
We paid to do, and see, pretty much the same as them, when they should have been working hard, or at least be being encouraged to work.
I feel that the public need to see visibly that offenders are indeed making reparation. They were not.
They were not learning new skills, or being rehabilitated, unless getting in the way of paying members of the public to observe cheatahs counts.
The supervisor should have been working with them, and working to get them motivated instead of standing around chatting with them.
I could have been another member of the public, or a judge, or MP, or other prominant person who would have been even more angry about it and had far more authority to do something much more drastic about it.
I could have been someone who would take the lack of work by offenders to the press, which would not be good.
I am thinking of contacting their line manager and letting them know what I saw.
AIBU to do this? Should I wind my neck in and let them get on with it? Or would you want to know that your taxes are being pee'd away on offenders doing what they like and having a good time.
Sorry, long.