Plymouth police get power to stop tombstoners
TEMPERATURES may have plunged overnight but it won't be long before they rise again.
And with that, and the stretching out of the days into the long summer evenings, comes the prospect of groups of teenagers jumping off the Hoe and 'tombstoning' into the cool waters of the Sound.
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Plymouth police get power to stop tombstoners
The daredevil activity has long been a fixture of Plymouth's life and, it seems, it is one that is hard to shift.
Despite the obvious dangers and a handful of horrific accidents, including 20 year-old Ben Thompson who was left paralysed, youths still flock to the cliffs in search of a thrill.
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Now police have been granted extra powers to 'disperse' groups who gather to jump from the Hoe.
The police's new dispersal order will run around the clock from later this month and through to the autumn.
Cllr Chris Penberthy, the man who signed off the order, says it is in place for the safety of groups "who might become slightly irresponsible in their behaviour" and "egg each other on".
His careful choice of words is perhaps deliberate, because tombstoning is not something you can tackle with a blunt law-enforcement tool. Jumping into the sea for 'fun' can be just that, and we should not assume the youngsters who do it don't know what they're doing, or that they will cause a nuisance.
But it is a wise move to ensure powers exist to intervene if things get out of hand.
19 Comments
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by peter_hillman
Tuesday, March 12 2013, 11:00PM
“BLAH BLAH BLAH..........bring back the diving boards.....about time the council stopped being such a pain in the ar5e and taking away all the fun out of life...KIDS WILL BE KIDS......I am pretty sure that if the council spent some money on a new diving platform and ran it safely the majority of these kids would use it....They have taken away a good, more social & safer option leaving the kids to follow their piers and mates in a more dangerous option.....Shame on you PCC...sort your sh*t out and build new boards...you have indirectly forced these kids into risking injury or death.....”
by Monkeyman
Tuesday, March 12 2013, 6:52AM
“@snowy1234 Dry your eyes love. You seem to have completely missed the point.”
by CharlieDodd
Tuesday, March 12 2013, 1:49AM
“Incidentally I've seen the police shooing kids away from the area round the Mayflower Steps even though they're simply jumping in and swimming around for fun with absolutely no danger, no wonder kids grow up hating the police and adults in general”
by GAWker
Tuesday, March 12 2013, 12:41AM
“The lack of diving boards seems to be quite relevant.
Look at how the police have been involved organising activities for kids elsewhere, be it kids playing soccer in St Austell or Plympton:
http://tinyurl.com/cty273h
Tom Daley Olympic Diver and Greatest Janner and A grade student.
Look at what charging entrance for the pool at Tinside did with reducing trouble instead of employing security guards?
Provide proper diving stations and perhaps they'll be used?
Some people have complained that the Hoe seems to be a no go area at night. Perhaps proper diving boards could be provided on the Hoe waterfront and the effort the police put into stopping tombstoners could be used to reduce problems on The Hoe at night?
It's not rocket science is it?
Plymouth is Ocean City, but there are no diving boards and kids on the waterfront are to be treated like criminals and told to go home? Yeah, that works.
Joined up thinking at its best!”
by jboy66
Monday, March 11 2013, 5:39PM
“As these ferel morons stand waiting their turn to risk their lives , in the distance they observe the outline of Mt.Edgecombe. Do they wonder what that faraway place is?. Maybe alien to them. The whole 6weeks school holiday tapping away on Facebook then getting into your wetsuit and jumping off a wall. How sad its all become. Our 6weeks off school would be filled with picnics across the water, walking to Penlee, Rame with our fishing rods , never a wasted day.”
by snowy1234
Monday, March 11 2013, 5:14PM
“Monkeyman, you truly are an idiot! Return to their neighbourhoods where we can arrest and criminalise them for anti social behaviour? ? Do us all a favour and put your address or street on this forum and we'll send them to you. Let's see how long it is before you call someone....anyone to have them removed.
Bring back the diving boards, simpler and probably cheaper than future policing/A&E costs anyway”
by NLAxx
Monday, March 11 2013, 4:31PM
“Build safe public diving boards I say!! But no to the old dangerous ones they were right to tear them down. The council are blamed when there is an accident but also blamed for ruining fun! Unfair - better to be a bore then let people harm themselves.”
by plympaul
Monday, March 11 2013, 4:10PM
“come on plymouth city council put these diving boards back again as people used to enjoy using them and plus its fun in the summer!!”
by archie_10
Monday, March 11 2013, 3:33PM
“im a tombstoner and have been for 10 yrs if the Muppet's(plymouth council) never took away all our pools and diving boards away maybe the wouldnt jump off the yacht club and cannons so by taking the stuff away they casued the problem i wont give it up ill be up there in the summer carrying on as normal dispersal or not they cant stop u going in the water and having fun”
by rowntree
Monday, March 11 2013, 2:49PM
“plmouth city council should pay to have some new diving boards put back to replace the ones that were dangerous and not waste the money on things that are meaningless give the kids something back and they will stay safe and they will thank you”