WHAT CONSTITUTES the need for police intervention? Hostage situations? Drive-by shootings? Armed robbery? A six-year-old girl throwing a tantrum in her kindergarten class? Apparently, police intervention is required for all of the above. The New York Times reported that a six-year-old girl was arrested in Avon Park, Florida for just that, marking an outrageous trend of police intervention where there should be none at all. When crime suddenly disappears from our community, maybe then we should send our law enforcement officers into elementary school classrooms to deal with misbehaving students. Until that occurs, however, our society needs to recognize the difference between criminal and obnoxious behavior.
Responsibility is a word fewer and fewer people seem to grasp. From our courts to our education system, everyone seems eager to pass the buck rather than take responsibility for anything that goes awry. In the case of the six-year-old girl, the teacher deferred his responsibilities to law enforcement officers -- individuals who are supposed to be enforcing the law and taking dangerous criminals off the streets. This six-year-old girl was not only taken by the police to the county jail, but handcuffed (on her biceps because her wrists were too small), finger-printed and photographed. She was also charged with felony battery and two misdemeanors of disrupting a school function and resisting a law enforcement officer.
It is an interesting case to note, not only for the ludicrousness on the part of law enforcement, but for the laziness of the school officials. Teachers have a great amount of responsibility -- they are responsible not only for the education of our children but also for their safety, well-being and happiness. But just like individuals who sue for tripping on a branch and breaking their leg on another person's property, the school system, in general, would rather not deal with these minor inconveniences anymore. Turning to the legal system for even the tiniest of offenses, however, is not the solution.
Rather than arresting rowdy six year old girls or even drunken students for public urination, law enforcement officers should be out in our communities deterring criminal behavior. As students of the University, we can certainly attest to the fact that muggings, rapes and robbery should be a much greater concern than behavioral problems on the playground. The legal system needs to put their foot down on what really constitutes a need for their intervention.
Laziness is no excuse for this kind of mistake. No six-year-old girl could truly harm a group of adults unless she was packing heat or had superhuman powers. To use fear as an excuse for calling the police is just unreasonable. Law enforcement officers have a duty to protect us, as citizens, not arrest children who pose no threat to our safety. Misbehaving children belong in the custody of their parents, not the police.
Although children can become out of control and unreasonable, there is certainly a line between bad behavior and criminal behavior. Most parents would agree that a six-year-old throwing a tantrum is bad, perfectly normal, behavior.
Beyond the classroom, there is also a difference between bad behavior and criminal behavior. Public urination, for example, is bad behavior. It is unsightly, rude and slightly disgusting, but it is no sign of a dangerous criminal. If it were a sign of that, then walking along 14th Street at night would be truly terrifying. Similarly, falling victim to an accident, such as slipping or tripping on someone else's property, is simply bad luck. To sue for this kind of behavior overloads our already burdened legal system.
Not every bad thing or behavior needs to be treated as a criminal offense. I am willing to wager that the majority of the readers of this paper have committed a crime at some point in their lives, whether it be stealing internet from their neighbors or drinking under age. If we expect our law enforcement officers to handle every case of bad behavior, nothing will ever be accomplished in this country.
Dangerous criminals roam the streets around us everyday. Some will never be caught, while others will get to see the inside of a jail cell. No six-year-old girl, however, should ever be in that situation.
Lindsay Huggins's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at lhuggins@cavalierdaily.com.
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