Not everyone knows their rights, especially when they’re young and in stressful situations.
So, what would you do if you stumbled upon a situation where someone seemed unaware of their legal rights?
Would you stay out of it?
Or would you step in to inform them, even if it meant upsetting an authority figure?
In today’s story, one person decided to get involved, leading to a heated exchange with a local officer.
Here’s how it all played out.
I’m in the UK, and we have what are called ‘community support officers’ – AKA ‘plastic bobbies.’
Basically, they look a bit like uniformed police at a glance, they act a bit like real police officers, but they have very little actual power or authority.
They don’t have handcuffs or a baton, no powers of arrest, and pretty much are glorified security.
If they see a crime, all they can really do is alert the real police.
They act as a deterrent, I guess, and save money on real police walking around.
So, as I’m walking through a local estate, I see the local community officer standing with a young lad I recognize as local, who looks pretty nervous.
The kid was unaware of the law, so this person made it known.
I walk over and ask what’s up.
The officer informs me they’re waiting for the police to arrive as he suspects the lad may have some cannabis on him, so they’ll be doing a search.
I ask him if he’s told this lad he has to stay here and wait for them, to which he says yes I’ve told him he has to wait until the police arrive to conduct a search.
So I tell him well you can’t hold him here, you know you can’t.
I turn to the lad and tell him as much, to just leave, now, he can’t hold you here, so jog on.
The community officer was not impressed.
He looks a bit unsure, asks if I’m being serious so I say yea, go, quickly now, he’s not allowed to hold you here but the police will so leave before they get here. So he does.
The community officer and I then have a chat, all friendly.
I actually chat with him quite often so we know each other, I’ve got respect for what they and the police need to do, but I felt like he was keeping the boy there under false pretenses and that’s just not on.
He tells me I shouldn’t have told him he could go, I tell him he shouldn’t have not told him.
AITA?
It’s easy to see both sides of this, but the kid did have every right to leave.
Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit had to say.
As this comment points out, it doesn’t see CSOs inform people of their rights.
This is interesting.
Here’s an excellent point.
Very true.
It almost seems like the community service officer isn’t completely clear on his duties.
This person did nothing but try to help.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.
