Is saying sorry always enough when a crisis hits?

When a crisis hits, the most important thing to do is to front up and say sorry.

Facing the cameras, showing genuine regret or concern and focusing on addressing the problems that have caused the crisis are imperative.

This weekend, we saw teenager Paris Brown give a heartfelt apology to the cameras after tweets she had posted referred to drug taking, drinking, sex and homophobic and racist views.

This would usually be seen as typical teenage fodder, but in Ms Brown's case, as the first Youth Police and Crime Commissioner, she was expected to uphold the very highest of standards.

During her apology, she explained that the tweets were her showing off when she was younger, rather than any deeply held views.

While questions have to be raised about the failure of Police and Crime Commissioner Ann Barnes' department to check Ms Brown's social media updates both before and after her appointment, there is a bigger issue here.

The role of Youth Police and Crime Commissioner was established so that Kent Police Force can better 'understand the needs of young people,' and they will certainly have gained some insight into how teenagers think from this debacle.

There may be good intentions and even some logic in creating this role, but can youngsters really advise the police on sensitive issues around youth crime? And if they can, should they be paid £15,000 to do so?

Ann Barnes says that the episode will help Ms Brown to grow up and will provide her with an opportunity to learn the hard way about the responsibilities of her role and even give her an insight into the challenges young people are facing.

But that misses the point that when you are trying to convince people about the validity of a new role, particularly one in the highly charged world of policing with all its political associations, you simply cannot just brush an incident of this kind aside as the mistake of a silly young girl.

Everything Ms Brown does now will be watched to see if her comments or counsel in any way confirms some of the views she previously expressed on Twitter, putting more pressure on her and Kent Police to justify the validity of her position.

Sometimes, an apology is all it takes to address an issue and move on.

But in this case, with so much riding on the integrity of the Youth Police and Crime Commissioner role, Ms Brown has poisoned the role before she has even officially started.

Only by doing the honourable thing and resigning will she prove the integrity she claims to have and allow Kent Police to move on and appoint someone without baggage.