Enjoying the sunshine, three police officers perch next to a lake while they supervise a teenager on a fishing trip.
Two of the officers seem more interested in checking their mobile phones and chatting than keeping an eye on the bored-looking tearaway.
Police say the publicly funded expedition was organised to help officers bond with the community and ‘get young people involved in positive activities’.
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| Hard day at the office: This image, captured by a passer-by, shows the officers relaxing and texting - at taxpayers' expense - while their teenage charge sits calmly by the riverbank |
But this image, captured by a passer-by, has provoked outrage as the same force prepares to make £36million of cuts and close six police stations.
Cash-strapped Hertfordshire Police found the resources to send three police community support officers – nicknamed Blunkett bobbies after the Labour home secretary who introduced them – on the jaunt to a lake in Hemel Hempstead.
But while the PCSOs seemed to be having a good day, the teenager looked uninterested as the fishing rod sat on a stand by his side.
Last night one resident said: ‘Shouldn’t they be out catching criminals rather than fish?’
They also questioned whether officers should be enjoying a day out while crime figures in the area rose.
Other residents took to the internet after seeing the photo to voice their disgust at the ‘misuse’ of police time. One wrote: ‘I live in Hemel Hempstead so glad to see my taxes being used in such a productive way! (not!!!) The old saying “crime doesn’t pay” isn’t really a true reflection of this country when it is so obvious that crime does pay!!!
‘Maybe I should give up work & turn to crime, then maybe I can go fishing with our wonderful police force? No wonder more & more honest hard working people are no longer proud to British.’
Tory MP Douglas Carswell, who previously sat on the Police and Justice Bill Committee, said: ‘This is a dreadful use of police time. Most people would be absolutely livid and furious about seeing police time spent in this way.
‘Many constituents of mine understand that the police are under pressure, but to see resources wasted in this way is awful.’
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| Nice work if you can get it: The image has sparked outrage as the same force prepares to make £36million of cuts and close six police stations |
The MP for Clacton added: ‘This photograph shows why we desperately need to elect police chiefs – so local people can decide the best use of their money.
‘We need to make sure we elect people who can do the job efficiently and effectively.’
Charlotte Linacre, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers want to see police pounding the pavement, not relaxing by the river.
‘Spending reductions don’t need to decimate frontline services, police forces just need to allocate resources better.
‘It’s disproportionate to have three policemen babysitting one teenager and calls into question the ways police have dreamt up ways to waste resources.’
It is not the first time that fishing has been used as a way of supposedly keeping young people out of trouble.
Last May Cambridgeshire officers were criticised for spending nearly £1,000 on angling trips for youngsters.
Probation Trusts have also come under fire for allowing criminals to go fishing and learn gardening as part of their alternative community sentences.
Last night a spokesman for Hertfordshire Police said about eight troubled teenagers, all volunteers, had gone on the Hemel Hempstead trip and insisted that it had cost no money.
‘We bought the fishing rods a few years ago as part of the Labour government’s diversionary funds which they gave to every county,’ the spokesman said. ‘There was no cost to the force at all.’
The spokesman added: ‘These police staff are youth and schools PCSOs.
‘As the schools are closed for half term, they were assisting with an organised local scheme which gets young people involved in positive activities, helps them to build good relationships with officers and ultimately steer them away from crime.
‘If the PCSOs were not engaging with the youths at the fishing lake, they would be doing it elsewhere in the community.’
The Hertfordshire force was accused of wasting police resources last August after dispatching a helicopter to catch a shoplifter. Officers sent up the aircraft to track down the thief after he stole some meat from a branch of Tesco.
Critics branded it a ‘disproportionate’ response for the 15-minute chase, which would have cost around £1,000 when officers’ time was taken into account.
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