Council bans parents from play areas

[Miktar]

Score one for Britain in its contest with the United States to create the stupidest fear-based society. The Watford Borough Council took the lead by banning parents from supervising their own kids in public playgrounds, "because they have not undergone criminal record checks."
The only adults allowed to monitor the kids are idiocracy-vetted "play rangers." The children's parents must "watch from outside a perimeter fence."

A council notice to parents explains that: "Safeguarding the children and young people who use the site is one of our top priorities.
"Due to Ofsted regulations we have a responsibility to ensure that every authorised adult who enters our site is properly vetted and given a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check by Watford Borough Council."

Council Mayor Dorothy Thornhill argued they are merely enforcing government policy at the play areas, in Vicarage Road and Leggatts Way.

She said: "Sadly, in today's climate, you can't have adults walking around unchecked in a children's playground and the adventure playground is not a meeting place for adults

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...ms_ss=facebook

Le sigh.

[onona]

Fucking ridiculous. Britain has always been a nanny state, but this is a whole new low. Frankly I am so tired of the pathetic hysteria about paedophilia that's crept into society over the last few years.

[BlahTheRipper]

i think if you have a good line of communication with your kid and you teach them what not to do you shouldn't have a problem with predators. They are looking for easy targets, so make your kid an uneasy target.

[Toi]

i think if you have a good line of communication with your kid and you teach them what not to do you shouldn't have a problem with predators. They are looking for easy targets, so make your kid an uneasy target.

By giving them a scissor knife maybe?

Seriously, all kids are easy targets.

[wir]

But the parents want to plaaaaaaaay! :<

[Garson007]

Fucking ridiculous. Britain has always been a nanny state, but this is a whole new low. Frankly I am so tired of the pathetic hysteria about paedophilia that's crept into society over the last few years.

QFE. The only reason all these countries are going hay-wire about paedophilia laws are because it's easy enough to get legislation for, not like someone would oppose it, plus it makes you look good. Edit: Nothing like a political lobby filled with moms. :p

However, thinking about it, I'm sure there is a lot of research going into, to see if inmates were "touched" as children. They always said prevention was better than cure, and what better than to cure crime?

I also never got the notion that a child's life is more valuable than a grown man's.

[Nandrew]

By giving them a scissor knife maybe?

Seriously, all kids are easy targets.

At risk of oversimplifying the issue, a child who willingly climbs into the van is a far easier target than one who is trained to cry for help when a stranger tries to lead them away from a safe, public place.

[BlahTheRipper]

Thank you Nandrew, that was my point in a broad spectrum.

[Death_cometh]

Well if I was into touching children I would just get a job as a "play ranger" (oh the irony) then I could molest the children and parents would be none the wiser because only I'm allowed in the park. The other "play rangers" would be paedos who also had this brainstorm and we wouldn't report each other. In fact these "play rangers" could become an elite group of paedophiles.

[dammit]

QFE. The only reason all these countries are going hay-wire about paedophilia laws are because it's easy enough to get legislation for, not like someone would oppose it, plus it makes you look good. Edit: Nothing like a political lobby filled with moms. :p

However, thinking about it, I'm sure there is a lot of research going into, to see if inmates were "touched" as children. They always said prevention was better than cure, and what better than to cure crime?

I also never got the notion that a child's life is more valuable than a grown man's.

If we have to look at preventing this problem (which is always the best way to face something like this) we have to first educate people on how to be good parents. Honestly, I think "Parenting" should be a mandatory subject in all schools from high school level, considering it is the minority that never have children and quite a few have children before they even leave school.

The other problem is paedophilia has the highest relapse rate of all types of sexual predators, which means few interventions have long term benefits. It's likely that paedophilia is a life long mental problem on a similar level to a mild level of mental retardation and is thus "incurable". This also may mean in some situation it is unpreventable. But no one really knows.

Still, better parenting won't harm anyone. Stupid laws like this, though, aren't helpful.