You are right when you mentioned that a wrap hold probably would have been the best restraint. It could have had the benefit of both physical immobility and a psychological humanity of touch. Wrap holds typically become hugs after the frenzy and frustration bleed out. Unfortunately because of law suits from parents, teachers are specifically taught not to lay a hand on students. Even a friendly pat on the head can get a teacher suspended. You rail against the institutionalized educational system, but it is most hampered by the parents of the children. So when situations like this arise, the only legal recourse to regain control is to call the police. It's a shitty situation, but that's what litigation by parents has created.
Speaking as someone who has been trained to put people in handcuffs, they are also often employed as a legal safeguard. When dealing with a violently struggling person, using various holds often leads to extreme bruising and in children can easily lead to fractured bones. This can easily escalate into a legal battle of abuse and wrap holds of children can easily be litigated as inappropriate contact. Restraints like handcuffs can be quickly applied and the officers then are in a hands-off situation but the person is now basically immobilized. I completely agree that it's horrible that this kind of situation even has to occur. Unfortunately, the schools are in a legal bind as to how to deal with it. I won't even speculate about the parent(s) of the girl. Any speculation would be unfair. I quipped earlier about padded manacles, but if these kinds of occurences become more common I think that softer restraints are indeed going to become standard issue. There are already FlexCuffs zip ties and Tuff Ties nylon braid, but there are constantly new products being developed for this kind of thing. -Kevin On 4/24/05, Dana <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jim > > I've done the restrain thing, and I've seen FITS. My neighbors used to > call the police and tell them I was beating/torturing/hurting her. > Again, nobody ever considered arresting the *child.* Though yes, it > truly sucked at the time. > > But you mention a lack of training. This is a school. Remember > schools, where we are all supposed to send out children because they > are so much better at training them that we are? Because they have > degrees and all, and we as parents are so incompetent. And the best a > whole school full of these highly trained highly competent individual > could do when confronted with a barely-school-age child having a > tantrum was to arrest her. No wonder she was hysterical. Imagine being > five and getting arrested for not going with the kindergarten program. > > A couple of other points: > > If this child really has some sort of behavior problem it is up to the > school system to provide some sort of structured learning program for > her. One that doesn't involve handcuffs. Or do you really think this > child has so much power (at five!) that she cannot be dealt with? Come > on. > > And that brings me to my second point -- if this were a school in a > nice middle class white neighborhood, that is probably the way it > would have gone. To me, this is about arresting a black child because > we assume she is going to wind up in jail anyway. > > Dana > > > On 4/24/05, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: S. Isaac Dealey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 10:55 PM > > > To: CF-Community > > > Subject: Re: just plain wrong > > > > > > How is it even humanly possible for a 5 yr old to do anything that > > > would require police intervention? (Outside of getting their hands on > > > > It's actually quite easy - but perhaps not necessary. A gun is far from the > > only thing that could cause harm to the child or others and even a five-year > > old of the right build (especially when adrenaline charged) can overpower an > > adult of the right build. > > > > In this particular instance it doesn't seem like the circumstances out of > > context predicated the police call - there was obviously previous > > interaction with this child and her mother and the police. > > > > > a gun in which case the concern isn't so much the child's temper > > > anyway.) Kids are kids. Sometimes kids throw fits - that's life. A > > > competent, responsible adult is capable of dealing with the situation > > > without involving the police. Police intervention in any situation > > > > This is normally true - but most adults lack the training needed to do that > > and some kids are incredibly difficult to control even with training. > > Reasonable people are actually quite bad (in general) in dealing with > > unreasonable situations for which they've not been trained. > > > > Secondly all kids throw fits, some kids throw FITS. If you've never had the > > opportunity to see one of the latter then you just don't know how bad things > > can (and do) get. > > > > I'm not sure what the current methods taught are, but addressing my old > > training to the situation at hand the child would have been restrained much > > sooner - as soon as she started hitting the adults. She wouldn't have been > > released until she was calm and would have been immediately restrained again > > if the behavior flared up. > > > > I've had to restrain a kid for more than hour (a truly back-breaking > > proposition). I've never had to restrain my own children (thankfully) but > > some kids need it. > > > > In this specific case I would expect the (multiple) teachers to be able to > > handle the problem without calling outside help. But to say this should > > always be the case doesn't seem right to me. I can easily see scenarios > > where frustrated adults unable to control the situation may call the police. > > Who else are they going to call, the fire department? > > > > Personally I would rather they recognize their inability to control the > > situation and call the police than escalate things to the point that the > > child is allowed to hurt themselves or others or hurt by the over-extended > > adult. > > > > Jim Davis > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:155178 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
