Home Blogs & Views Birmingham Mail Columnists Maureen Messent

Don't rush to condemn PCSOs

Sep 28 2007

BEWARE the self-righteousness that has condemned that pair of community support officers who didn't hurl themselves into a deep Wigan pond to go to the assistance of 10-year-old Jordan Lyon.

The lad drowned. Now, listening to his parents and other pundits, you can get the idea that the two men practically held Jordan under the water.

How do their detractors know these particular CSOs could swim?

Is it, as some allege it could be, a natural knee-jerk reaction to attempt to save a person in peril, the more so when a child is involved?

We read daily of men running into blazing buildings to rescue the trapped. Little tales of heroism crop up regularly.

But it is not given to all of us, this discounting of self in dangerous times.

While we should praise those involved in derring do, we have no right to point the finger at more timorous souls.

And why the hell did Jordan's parents allow him and siblings of similar age to play near deep water?

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