And Here We Are Again: 9-Year-Old Black Girl Pepper Sprayed

I hit a paywall but simply from the headline...and not knowing the circumstances...

I'm having a hard time thinking of a circumstance in which pepper spraying a child would be appropriate.

A Person in Crisis team sounds like a wonderful idea if it's including mental health professionals who are trained to help a person/people in situations such as domestic violance, potential suicide, neighbour disputes and so on... BUT there need to be clear guidelines that are understood by dispatch for sending the team (and for determining the nature of the emergency being called in).

YES - we need to weed out the bad cops. We need to educate the others (and the new trainees). We need to focus on community policing and defusing situations not coming in guns ablaze (or pepper spray ablaze).

And we need to reach a time when people reading that headline don't automatically (and correctly) assume that the victim is a person of colour based on the police response. Because the police response should NEVER be different based on colour/race/gender etc...and yet it is

The mayor already suspended the officers involved pending investigation. I saw the video and I’m like suspended? Try fired, on the spot. And maybe charged with assault because she was already cuffed & mostly in the car when they pepper sprayed her.

The officer did nothing but escalate the situation. The officer told her she was acting like a child and she said she is a child. I guess the screaming overwrought 9 year old is the least juvenile being in that video.

Exactly. I heard them say the child “wouldn’t comply”. Um how many 9 year olds know that they need to comply with police? This is so fucking shameful. Absofuckinglutely disgusting.

So f#$(ing that.

I'd hate to see them in a classroom.

Teachers, customer service people, etc have to de-escalate every F#($*ing day w/children AND adults.

We don't just get to taze them or spray them into compliance.

Maybe the LE orgs should hire some teachers to train them about how to deal w/a non-compliant CHILD.

“You’re acting like a child!” ?!?!?? This is horrifying. That poor girl. I hate everyone.

As a school psychologist, do you know how many students I see like her every. single. day?!

I’ve never had to use pepper spray. EVER. Because I’ve actually been trained to deesclate children in a crisis, at least enough to get them to an emergency room with trained doctors who can take over.

This is sickening.

13wham.com/news/local/officers-suspended-after-9-year-old-handcuffed-pepper-sprayed?fbclid=IwAR3pvEyXtK7Mz8FiBGfXyHENiSaAo_pfBJlxm0FtNtqkJosQq1DIzG9SVps


I live near Rochester NY. This station has the best info.

JFC. Call in almost any elementary teacher or counselor in America. We do this every day. It’s arguably a more important skill than our content knowledge.

Let the police handle criminals, not children.

How horrifying! That poor little girl. I hope she receives therapy and support to recover from this wrongful treatment.

I have a friend who’s part of a new police programme in a large region in Ontario. He’s a police officer and they’re trained on outreach and de-escalating and aiding. His team visits homes that have been flagged as perhaps benefitting from intervention and assistance from outreach programmes. So they go visit troubled homes and offer help and resources. I know a lot of his training has been on de-escalating, as well as being able to offer referrals to help agencies. On the weekend he attended a day of training on interacting with children — how to deflect and de-escalate an attacking child and how to calm the situation. So I do believe that the police can be effective in these situations given the correct attitudes and training. I also know he was bit while on duty recently, an older gentleman bit him hard enough that the skin was broken right through his jacket and uniform, so I’m not sure sending social workers out to these kinds of calls is always the best answer either.

If a non-uniformed adult did this to a child, they'd be arrested.

 I haven't read anything about the parents. Why would you say they need to lose custody? 

Exactly.

The people who want respect for being the toughest are often the ones who most escalate and overreact to situations that other people handle all the time.

This is the core problem on why nothing changes from christine58 link above:

If that's the case there is some serious problems with the protocols.

Nine years old. Seriously? What the hell is wrong with them? That’s horrific.