A case of over reaction

Mar 29, 2012 Editorial

Increasingly it would seem that very young children are being made to account to the police. Sometimes these children are picked up for wandering. During the course of their wanderings they may do something unlawful like grabbing something from someone or simply entering a yard to help themselves to whatever could provide them with some spending money.
More often than not, the police, recognizing the age of these children, would insist on having the parent visit the police station. However, many parents would not, either because they are unaware of the whereabouts of the children or because they simply cannot be bothered. Indeed these are in the minority because they are the people who never developed social values.
More recently children were being taken before the police by the very people who are supposed to teach and to train them. One newspaper reported that a teacher took some grade one children to a police station because another teacher had lost a cellular phone. The action by the teacher is criminal.
Grade One children are those heading to primary school for the first time. Some may have come from homes in which social values are not taught but in school they would have been at that age where they emulate their peers. These are the children who were hauled off to the police station. Some may have been in tears and scared out of their wits.
Suffice it to say that the cell phone was never found and the children were all released. But one can only wonder whether some older children or even a teacher could not have picked up the phone. In some schools, the head teacher would have intervened.
Many of us may have gone to a public school where a teacher lost something. The solution rested with the school pooling resources to replace the missing item. In this case, the phone was not worth much and was certainly not a high-end instrument.
We are worried at the future of the relationship between the teacher and these children. We are also worried at the impact of the incident on the children. Whether some got nightmares might not be known. What we do know is that there are no professional counselors at public schools.
The Education Ministry should mount an investigation. What has happened to the situation that saw the police visiting the school?
The only encounter young children should have with the police should be in the form of lectures. Policemen have been known to visit schools to teach children about road safety. Some have actually addressed children on the things that could befall them. And many things happen to very young children these days. Some are sexually molested.
On Tuesday, another group of young people was arrested for entering a school and stealing items such as computers and other articles used to teach Information Technology. They were detained. Too often we see children placed in the lock ups alongside hardened criminals. The fallout does not require too much imagination.
Having children confront the police at a young age is not good for the development of the children. In the society today, the police are not the best role models. They appear to the public as brash and hostile men who would not hesitate to use force when confronting people.
In fact, the image of the police most likely to stick in the minds of the young people is one of men in dark clothes and carrying big guns as they drive about the city. For some reason, the image of a traffic police rank is not as prevalent as it should be.
Not so long ago, we had cause to report that the face of crime was becoming younger. And indeed very young boys, some of them barely in their adolescent years, are the bulk of the offenders today. There may have been those who fell through the cracks in the education system and have not been able to develop meaningful skills that would serve them well in society. The result is that they must confront the police but for all the wrong reasons.

Latest News

A case of over reaction

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Guyanese MMA star Harris set for octagon return on January 11

GCF Calls Urgent Extraordinary General Meeting to...

Mashramani Street Football Championships to kick...

Boxing not currently on the program for the 2028...

Finding better qualified Guyana Cricket Board...

Kellman’s 3-goal brilliance inspires Sparta...

Features/Columnists

Jagdeo is a liability to Irfaan Ali

Forget Begging Rich Nations: Caribbean Countries Should Act to Save Themselves

PPP at 75: power to the plutocracy, kleptocracy

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

A case of over reaction

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]