Gotcha!
Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:24 am
With a police helicopter hovering overhead and a specialist dog team on the prowl, locals were convinced they were witnessing a major manhunt.
But a few minutes later the operation was stood down after officers caught their quarry – not a dangerous escaped prisoner or a terror suspect, but two naughty boys who had pinched some plastic goalposts.
And the result? The two 16-year-olds were simply given a ticking off because of their ages and lack of previous offences.
Essex Police was yesterday criticised for scoring an own goal as locals accused them of a massive overreaction when they could have used the resources to catch serious criminals. Andy Wright, head of Rayne Primary School near Braintree, from where the goalposts were taken, said he was stunned the £700-an-hour helicopter had been deployed.
'I was very surprised when the caretaker told me that the police helicopter had been sent out,' he said. 'Of course, we do not want any of our equipment to be stolen as it belongs to the children. But I really have no idea how this incident came to be escalated. 'I think the boys came on to the school grounds during the evening and just picked up a set of plastic goalposts that were on the grass.' A parent, whose daughter goes to the school, said: 'I saw the helicopter and thought there must have been something major happening nearby. So when I found out what it was for I couldn't believe it. It's a massive overreaction, and parents I have spoken to feel the same way.'
The operation began last Thursday evening when an off-duty police officer spotted two teenagers acting suspiciously in the grounds of the village school.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z211l8utFD
