Behave and we’ll buy you a Big Mac, police tell kids

Police are so desperate to cut youth crime in the UK they are bribing kids with fast food.

Teenagers who promise to be good are being offered discounts on Big Macs and pizzas in a new pilot scheme launched this week in South London.

Basically, anyone aged between 12 and 17 can take part by signing a ‘good behaviour contract’ with the police and the local council in Sutton.

Once you have signed up to the scheme, you receive Positive Citizen photo-cards, which entitles you you to a 10 per cent discount off anything you buy in McDonald’s and Pizza Hut.

You also get the same discount on clothes and computer games from such stores such as Zavvi, New Look and Top Shop.

Other offers include discounts on trips to the cinema or the bowling alley. However, if they misbehave, they get the card taken away from them.

So, finally, it pays to be good. But it does mean we will soon have a generation of skinny, bad people and fat, good people. At least you would know who to trust.

Of course, the idea of bribing children to behave is not a new one. In fact, most of modern parenting depends on it.

But it will come as no surprise that this new scheme has received a lot of criticism.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Robert Whelan, deputy director of the think tank Civitas, said: “We need to make it clear to people that we expect them to behave lawfully and you don’t get a payment for doing that.

“If you start thinking you have to pay people who behave, you are admitting the battle has been lost.”

Neville Rigby, from the International Obesity Task Force, agreed.

He said: “It beggars belief. There is a lot of evidence that eating a diet of junk food makes children behave badly, which means that the police are just creating a problem for themselves in the long-run with these cards.”

Dr Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, also thinks the scheme has not been thought out properly.

He said: “The intentions are commendable but the execution leaves something to be desired. It is a bit strange, given the fact that childhood obesity is now at epidemic proportions. They might have chosen better, healthier, options.”

See, that’s all very well, but could kids be bribed with fruit and veg?

Anyway, Sutton Police say the scheme has been a success.

Speaking in the Daily Mail, Sgt Stuart Taylor-Bard said: “We want to give youngsters who live in the town centre the opportunity to make the most of its many discounts and benefits.

“It will encourage them to get to know us and give us the opportunity to work together to develop new projects in the future.”