community support officers - Do nothing whilst boy drowns

Two police support officers looked on as a boy of ten drowned because they had not been trained to deal with such an emergency.

Jordon Lyon had jumped into a pond after his step-sister Bethany Ganderton, eight, got into difficulties while swimming.

Emergency services were called and two police community support officers - nicknamed "Blunkett's bobbies" - were the first on the scene on their bikes.

But instead of wading in, they stood on the side of the pond and waited for trained officers to turn up.

When Sergeant Craig Lippitt, a regular police officer, arrived minutes later, he stripped off his body armour and jumped into the pond in Wigan.

Jordon was pulled from the water but, despite attempts to resuscitate him, was pronouced dead in hospital.

The incident is likely to raise further questions over the effectiveness of support officers who have been described as "plastic police" - under-trained and ill-equipped.

Jordon's parents, Tracy and Anthony Ganderton, yesterday condemned the pair for failing to help in the crucial minutes in which their son's life could have been saved.

At an inquest into Jordon's death, Mr Ganderton said: "When we got there, the PCSOs just stood there watching.

**Words just fail me. Un-fucking-believable, they sit about with their thumbs up their arseholes whilst a child drowns in a shallow pond and it takes a regular officer to turn up and actually attempt to save the child.

Quite what are community support officers good for? They should be sacked and have to live with the shame of being worthless cowards. Maybe they needed to fill in a health & safety form first?

We should sack all the community support officers, then plow the money back into hiring regular police men & women.

Mind you they are just symptoms of the health & safety culture that has infested every part of the UK and most likely these cowards thought that they would have been punished for doing the right thing. A bit like what happened to Fireman Tam Brown some time back:

Story from Sunday Mail
A FIREMAN fears the sack after plunging into a river to save a drowning woman.

Tam Brown, 42, hauled her out after an eight-minute, life-or-death battle in freezing water.

But he has been told by bosses he has broken safety rules and could face disciplinary action after a probe.

He said: "I was expected to watch that young girl die in front of me. As a father and a caring human being, I could not live with myself if I'd had to do that."

Tam was applauded by onlookers as he leapt into the River Tay to help the 20-year-old.

After the rescue, the young woman and her mother sent cards thanking dad-of-two Tam and his fellow officers for saving her life.

But Tam and his watch manager David Wallace - who agreed he should go in to save the drowning girl - are now the subject of a brigade investigation.

**Welcome to Blair & Brown's new Cool Britannia where children are allowed to die because of health & safety rules. Remember if you want the authorities to stand back and let people die, then vote Labour.

Tags: community support officers
Jordon Lyon
PC Policing

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