When do you call the police? Don’t laws have to be broken, or safety be at risk before the police get a call?
On June 16, police were called to an unlikely scene: an end-of-the-year class party at the William P. Tatem Elementary School in Collingswood.
The police officer spoke to the student, who is 9, said the boy’s mother, Stacy dos Santos, and local authorities.
Dos Santos said that the school overreacted and that her son made a comment about snacks, not skin color. -snip-
Insulting to minorities and mentally ill.
The increased police involvement follows a May 25 meeting among the Collingswood Police Department, school officials, and representatives from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, where school officials and police both said they were told to report to police any incidents that could be considered criminal, including what Police Chief Kevin Carey called anything “as minor as a simple name-calling incident that the school would typically handle internally.”
Suppose for a moment the third grader had said the most God-awful racist thing possible. He didn’t, but suppose. Do you call the cops?
While school rules naturally should be enforced, the police should not be the ones to enforce them. This is especially true of speech from third grade boys.
Obligatory statement: I love all kinds of people, and am not a racist. I don’t condone coarse talk in school, or racism anywhere. The little dude was probably just talking about brownies. Some people gotta get over themselves!
h/t reader Mrs. Whatsit
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