Mother followed home by plain clothes policeman for threatening to smack her child in a supermarket!

[wheelsonthebus]

Extraordinary.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1226056/Mother-trailed-policeman-warned-council-telling-son-checkou t.html

Don't know quite what to make of that. Police would have to follow up if reported. If an adult threatened to give a member of the public a good hiding the police would act wouldn't they? Scary though given the context.

Oh FGS whatever happened to common sense? IF the police officer was genuinely concerned, why leave it for six weeks? If she or he really believed the children would be mistreated, they should have had a word with the mother there and then.

And even in our bureaucratic culture, the investigation found no problem, so why leave the parent with this heavy-handed 'we've got you on file, you know' message? Just sends the message that you never want anything to do with the authorities at all. Which could put off someone who actually needs help, or put someone else off reporting a child who is actually at risk.

"If you carry on like this you?re going to get another hiding like the one you had earlier."

I think that was probably what gave them concern. Sounds a bit ominous.

Agree with Heathen, it does sound as though something far worse than a 'mild smack' had occured earlier in the day.

Agree with Riven. It's amazing how they don't seem to notice real vandals when off duty.

I'd be pretty cheesed off if someone turned up at my door to tell me how to raise my kids. And I'd write a complete snottogram back to the council.

oh goody, another police bashing thread, it must have been all of 48 hours since i saw one of these.

DO you know if there is anywhere you can hire these plain clothes policemen for a modest fee? Am getting very fed up with mothers screeching at their children wherever I go.

GOOD FOR HTE COPPER
if osmeone threateend to hit me I hope he would act the same

Do you know what, that woman must have acted really unpleasantly and threatening to her kids that day. There must have been a really good reason for a policeman to spend 15 minutes of his free time following her to find out where she lived.

She must have deserved it, sorry. She was probably screaming, effing and blinding. That was no mild admonishment.

If I was the sort of person who gave my children a "hiding" I would at least do it behind closed doors. I do my shopping online to avoid these people.

If I ever hear someone in a supermarket or public place threaten a child with a "hiding" or a "good smack", in an obvious state of anger, then I honestly do worry about how that person behaves when they are behind closed doors. If you are prepared to lose it in public when most people temper their reactions then it is a worry. I've often left a situation behind me thinking I wish I had said something even if it was to offer some support (unless they looked the type that would punch me).

I suppose I am generally supportive of the policeman's good intentions but they didn't really follow through in a sensible way did they? 6 weeks later? And then the black mark. I would have thought a low-key visit with a view to assessing the situation at home would have been better - was the mother coping, did she genuinely need some help and support, was a "hiding" a daily occurence in the house perhaps bordering on abuse?

I know it's not a perfect scenario but I am not sharing the "how very dare they" reaction or, "why don't they concentrate on catching the real villains" reaction either.

ROFL at cory. We need them here in our sainsburys as well.

Oh FGS. The authorities can't win can they?

If they don't intervene when an assault on a child is fairly obviously taking place then they are damned.

And going by this article, if they DO intervene they are damned too. From the spokesperson's comments about it being "not a normal telling off" and their concerns over the child's reaction, they were obviously concerned.

Good on them for checking it out. It's not like they shackled her in the pillory and let the mob throw rotten tomatoes.

yes - and her discipline methods with her children don't seem to be so effective, she'd already smacked one that day "for arguing with his sister" but they were "rampaging" round the supermarket ...

Reality - exactly - it's more or less a coded way of saying "She's not on benefits you know."

The mother said: 'My words were something like, "How dare you behave like this. If you carry on like this you're going to get another hiding like the one you had earlier".

With a comment like that I am glad the police decided to spend some time checking this out.

As others said, if this had been a man syaing it to his partner, or a woman saying it to another adult - would people be up in arms then?

Children are people. They are not there to hit in order to get them to do what you want them to do. This does not sound like a one off. The mther does not sound like a "pillar of the community."

She says 'I was doing what parents should do, and what thousands do every week - setting moral boundaries for how children should behave'

I dont think threatening to give them a hiding is setting moral boundries, i think the policeman did the right thing

Well, I wish they'd been so quick and eager to pursue the junkie slapper who stole my wallet when I was in hospital. Or the person who smashed our neighbour's car windscreen in.

Of course the police officer did the right thing. The language she used is not indicative of what thousands do every week and it is impossible to comment on a situation that we did not witness though given the words she used and the fact that the children reacted a certain way, the police officer was absolutely right to do something.

Vicar, yes it's been at least a day since we had some sweeping generalisations about the police on here.

Well UQD, yes it would be nice if there was unlimited police resources.

But don't you think that imminent assault should rank above a smashed windscreen in terms of police time?

I'd rather the police spent time tracking down child abusers than attempting to find out who vandalised a window - with probably very little prospect of getting a lead or a prosecution.

They investigated her and found nothing wanting. Yet she has a black mark on her file for the next 14 years. How can that be right ?