Police race to ‘emergency’ after girl, 11, is told she can’t watch Love Island
POLICE responded to a 999 call after an 11-year-old girl ‘kicked off’ because she wasn’t allowed to watch Love Island.
Following the report of a ‘public disorder incident’, officers arrived with lights flashing and sirens blazing shortly after the reality TV show began on Wednesday night at 9pm.
Days earlier, the same police force told a shop assistant who dialled 999 after being threatened by an armed robber to ring back on the nonemergency 101 number instead.
A post from Market Bosworth Police on Facebook said: ‘An 11year-old girl kicked off because she wasn’t allowed to watch Love Island. Due to the information passed by the caller, this was risk-assessed and graded as a “Grade One” – which means they attended as an emergency on blues and twos. True story.’
No arrests were made but the caller – who was not identified – and the girl, from Coalville, Leicestershire, received ‘support, safeguarding referrals, and a holistic review of the incident’. Leicestershire Police were criticised online for launching an emergency response to the dispute, but not to the shop worker who was threatened with a knife.
Wendie Love said: ‘It would seem that the priority is substituting for inadequate parents of 11-yearolds instead of responding to reports of knife crime and attempting to catch a perpetrator.’
Several people criticised the caller for ‘wasting police time’ for ringing 999 over the dispute, but others defended their actions. Ruth Randle said: ‘Nobody knows the true details of how badly the child kicked off and how scared the parents were – and if there were any underlying issues – before everyone starts to judge.’
In response to criticism for revealing details of the call, the Market Bosworth account posted: ‘It gives an insight into what we deal with every day. People often think it’s glamorous and exciting – like [TV show] Police Interceptors. It’s important that the public know what we actually deal with.’ The family of the shop assistant who had been threatened by a hooded knifeman criticised the police response. Her brother, who chose to not be identified, said: ‘When my sister rang 999 he was still outside the store.
‘I couldn’t believe it when they told her she’d have to dial 101. How much more serious can a crime get than armed robbery?’
ITV2’s Love Island was last summer’s surprise smash hit – with 2.6million viewers tuning in for the final. The tawdry reality show’s latest series attracted 85,000 applicants – more than twice the 40,000 who applied this year to go to either Oxford or Cambridge University.
It is so popular among young adults that an Oxford college has even appointed a ‘Love Island Rep’ to organise group viewings. Students at St Hilda’s voted to create the role for one volunteer who will be given £100 to buy snacks for those gathering to watch the series.