Should parents be fined if their children are convicted of anti-social behaviour?

Parents should be held responsible for their children taking part in criminal social media crazes, a police boss has said.

Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) chairwoman Donna Jones said parents could be forced to pay the fines for the criminal behaviour carried out by their children.

Her comments come after youths caused disorder in London's Oxford Street last week, with looting sparked by online rumours.

Jones said parents should be disciplining their children and teaching them such criminal acts are “morally abhorrent”.

She said: "Parents need to be parenting their children and teaching them right from wrong.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday the organising on social media of looting was "appalling" and "unacceptable".

Young people gathered in London’s Oxford Street last Wednesday in a suspected TikTok-inspired raid of shops, following a viral shoplifting call on the social media platform.

Footage showed police wielding batons in a clash with dozens of young men and wrestling some of them away, while officers on horseback helped to disperse hundreds of people.

West End stores were forced to close their shutters and lock customers inside during the looting bid, which was reportedly inspired by a social media craze encouraging people to take part in an “Oxford Street JD robbery”.

Home secretary Suella Braverman called for those responsible for the disorder to be "hunted down" by police.

She said: "We cannot allow the kind of lawlessness seen in some American cities to come to the streets of the UK. The police have my full backing to do whatever is necessary to ensure public order.

“Those responsible must be hunted down and locked up."

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The Metropolitan Police arrested nine people and issued 34 dispersal orders during the incident.

Sunak said: “I fully support the police in bringing those people to justice.

“I want anyone watching who is thinking about this, who sees something like this, to know that they will be met with the full force of the law.

“Because that type of behaviour is simply unacceptable in our society.”

A TikTok spokeswoman said: “We have zero tolerance for content facilitating or encouraging criminal activities.

“We have over 40,000 safety professionals dedicated to keeping TikTok safe – if we find content of this nature, we remove it and actively engage with law enforcement on these issues.”

Jones, the Conservative Hampshire police and crime commissioner, also highlighted a craze in Southampton in which a “handful” of 15 to 17-year-olds took paracetamol to see who could stay in hospital the longest.

“This is a real indication of societal breakdown," she said.

“This has not just suddenly appeared from nowhere. We’ve seen the warning signs of this coming for a really long time.

"We know these type of incidents are happening in America, and what happens in America very often gets here within a 12-month period.

“Hundreds of young people rampaging through London shops, which are putting their security shutters down. You know, this is Britain in 2023.

“This is incredibly worrying, and somebody needs to call it out."