Recently British Home Secretary Theresa May said they “…trust the police.” But several reports say otherwise.

A report by the Howard League of Penal Reform shows that 278,000 children under the age of 18 were arrested in 2009.  Of that 5,176 ended up in juvenile prison.  The report condemned the British bobbies for “…excessive and inappropriate use of arrest for children.”

Why arrest so many kids?  The report suggests that since Police Commissioners are elected, they go after the easy to arrest youth, because then Police Commissioners can run for election on the grounds that they have high arrest records.

In another scandal, the London Times reports that an average of 160 British bobbies lose their jobs for breaking the law, every year.  The law violations include everything from carrying their gun while drunk to assault and tampering with evidence.

In the past three years, 477 bobbies were fired or forced to quit, hundreds were fined, and 52 demoted.

The reports come at a time when the British government is considering giving police the authority of prosecutors.