In a public relations stunt, angry drivers accused police of deploying students as “child labour” to point speed guns at passing cars from the side of “dangerous” roadways.
South Sefton Police enlisted the help of local 10-year-old children as part of their operation to ‘improve road safety’ last month and scold motorists for ‘selfishly breaking the speed limit’.
A picture of a “mini police officer” pointing a speedometer at Liverpool Road was shared on social media by the service, along with a description of a “speeding operation” carried out by “the small police.”
The children weren’t handing out fines to offenders, who the police speculated were parents ‘rushing to get their kids from school’, but instead they were dishing out stern warnings.
Many drivers and parents alike flooded the comments to express their concern for the children’s safety as they were ‘hanging about on the side of the road’, which they claimed was ‘irresponsible’.
Others called the stunt “delusional,” saying it was similar to “child labour” and that the youngsters participating were being “exploited.”
The police made it clear that kids had formal permission from their parents or legal guardians to attend, were always escorted by a teacher and police officer, stayed on the pavement away from the traffic, and wore hi-viz.
Even though the police called the kids their “little helpers,” many people were incensed because they believed the kids were being used as “child labour” and were working “for free” as police officers.
Another wrote: ‘Surely this is exploitation of children.’
One put: ‘Nice child labour. I think a child hanging around on the side of the road is a particularly bad idea.’
Another sarcastically said: ‘I know, let’s get the kids to do the police job for free.’
One person said: ‘I thought the police protected kids from child labour, not encouraged it.’
The force was criticised online for being “irresponsible” and “unprofessional.”
One person wrote online: ‘I am not disagreeing about the effects speeding can have on people’s lives. What we are talking about here is the health and safety of children.
‘I’m sure the children do love coming out with you and telling adults off. But how would you feel if one of these kids got injured or even, god forbid, killed?’
Another questioned: ‘Why put a child near a road where people speed? Crazy world we live in.’
Despite the controversy in the comments, Sefton Local Police expressed they were grateful as it helped encourage a conversation about speeding, quoting the road safety charity Brake that ‘one in every three fatal road collisions involves excessive speed’.
Oh my goodness, this is laughable. Kids learning about road safety—who would have believed it? Surely, this is a good way to teach youngsters the perils of driving too fast. Perhaps I’m just old-fashioned, but I believe it’s a good way to learn. First-hand knowledge is always good knowledge.
All children should be taught about road safety because these woke children of today are currently under the illusion that the rules don’t apply to them.
This is a great thing for kids to do, as long as the police make sure the kids are safe. It was clearly said that the children were safe. All schools have to do a risk assessment every time children are taken out of school for various activities, and it sounds like the generation of today is the bigger part of the problem.
Child labour my foot. Kids should be doing voluntary work throughout their childhood to teach them responsibility, respect, and self-worth.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 