Agencies/London
Britain’s first youth police commissioner apologised yesterday for “inappropriate language and views” she posted on her Twitter account.
Paris Brown, 17, wrote violent, racist and anti-gay comments on her feed before she became the first youth PCC for Kent to represent young people’s views on policing. In her tweets, she boasted about getting drunk and appeared to condone violence in a tweet in which she said she was pleased that her brother had thumped someone that “gave his tiny little friend a black eye”.
The offensive tweets, which included references to taking drugs, were posted by the teenager from the ages of 14 to 16, but have now been deleted.
Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, has led calls for her to step down from the post. Brown, from Sheerness, Kent, was appointed last week to the £15,000-a-year post.
Kent Police and local crime commissioner Ann Barnes has, however, defended her. In a statement, Brown said: “I deeply apologise for any offence caused by my use of inappropriate language and for any inference of inappropriate views.
“I am not homophobic, racist or violent and am against the taking of drugs. If I’m guilty of anything it’s showing off and wildly exaggerating on Twitter, and I am very ashamed of myself, but I can’t imagine that I’m the only teenager to have done this.
“Just as one example, the line about ‘Hash Brownies’ is a reference to a Scooby Doo film. I have a genuine interest in working with young people, as demonstrated by my current work as an apprentice for a local authority helping teenagers in a local community.
She said: “I don’t want to be judged on tweets that were written a long time ago, before I found out I had the job. I don’t think it should affect my future, my career. I still want to be the voice of young people”
Barnes said in a statement that she did not condone the nature of the tweets but asked for some perspective due to Brown’s age.