Think It Over Thursday: Cops arresting kids

My cousin, a new police officer, is a good man, and he assures my daughter that children don’t get arrested—that she should not fear police officers. I, however, cannot support such a statement, as it’s simply not truthful. As a college student—a very “straight-laced,” boring college student, I might add—I was accosted by cops one night with a friend on our way out to go dancing. We weren't speeding, and they didn't even tell us why we were pulled over. They shone their flashlights at our breasts and told us to “be safe.” I know many other people with similar stories, and I know that the role of police officer is just like any other—there are bad apples in every bunch.

But the startling trend to arrest children and teens for stupid crap seems like it doesn’t have any boundaries. In Ridiculous News Today—a segment I just made up—police officers arrested a bunch of kids for having water balloon fights. One kid was even attacked by a cop—thrown down by his neck—and required medical treatment. Here’s a case of a seven-year-old being arrested (as well as hundreds of kids as young as kindergarten age being suspended).

And while this isn’t arrest-related, a child got suspended for bringing a Swiss Army knife to an overnight nature camp. Sigh. I get the need to not have knives, but when you go camping, you really need one. And this kid is in the fifth grade; I was definitely whittling long before that age. I know kids in the first grade who whittle in our homeschool group.

I’ve seen so many other stories linked to as well, and they just make my heart ache. In most of these cases, a child or teen is arrested for something an adult would never be arrested for doing. What are we teaching our children by allowing this to happen (or, in some cases, even encouraging it)—and perhaps, more importantly, why do we feel this is so necessary?

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia