Youth PCC resigns over controversial tweets

The newly-appointed youth police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Kent has stepped down from her role less than a week after her selection.

Paris Brown, who recently turned 17, was appointed to the role by Ann Barnes, the Kent PCC who was implementing an election manifesto pledge to create a role specifically to link the police service with local young people.

However, a series of tweets from Ms Brown’s Twitter account were uncovered by the Mail on Sunday, which the paper alleged condoned drug-taking, binge-drinking and expressed homophobic and racist views.

Ms Brown apologised for the offence caused by her comments, made between the ages of 14 and 16, and her Twitter account has since been closed down, but following Kent Police’s confirmation that it would investigate the messages following a “number of complaints about statements posted on social media”, she stepped down from her role.

“As I made clear over the weekend, I accept that I have made comments on social networking sites which have offended many people. I am really sorry for any offence caused,” she said.

“I strongly reiterate that I am not racist or homophobic. I have fallen into the trap of behaving with bravado on social networking sites. I hope this may stand as a learning experience for many other young people.

“I now feel that in the interests of everyone concerned, in particular the young people of Kent who I feel will benefit enormously from the role of a youth commissioner, that I should stand down as I feel that the recent media furore will continue and hamper my ability to perform the job to the level required.”

In a lengthy statement on the Kent PCC website, Ms Barnes said it was “a very sad day” that a series of “offensive and stupid” tweets had forced Ms Brown out of her role.

“An enthusiastic young woman with exceptional skills and a proven track record in working with young people has ended up in a position where she has turned down the job of a lifetime for her,” she said.

Ms Barnes defended her decision to appoint a youth PCC, saying it was not a PR stunt and was designed with the best interests of the young people of Kent in mind.

“There are young people here in Kent, and across the country, who can be very hard to reach and this is a massive opportunity and offers huge scope to reduce the gap between younger people and the authorities,” she said.

“The idea of one identifiable person who can act as a bridge is supported by many people.”

Saying she wanted to recruit a “warts and all” young person, Ms Barnes said it would be very hard to find someone who had not once written an inappropriate or “silly, foolish or perhaps even deeply offensive” comment online, and defended the “very tough” recruitment process which selected Ms Brown ahead of 163 other applicants.

“I was not recruiting an angel. I was not recruiting a police officer,” she said.

“Paris scored highly in all aspects of the process and was identified as the person to whom we could offer the position. I would not have appointed Paris if I did not think she could do the job.

“I did think she could do the job and so did my fellow interviewers. Paris was offered the job subject to vetting. We used Kent Police’ vetting procedures, which do not normally involve scrutiny of social media networks for this grade of post.”

Insisting there was “no blame game” between the PCC’s office and Kent Police, Ms Barnes said there would be an independent report to look at what went wrong. She defied calls for her own resignation, saying she was “not a quitter by nature”.

“I restate for the record that I take responsibility for all that happens on my watch, good or bad,” she said.

“We worked with the best of intentions but sadly on this occasion it hasn’t worked out.”