Kenny Online.NET

Focused On Urban Issues, Nightlife, & Kenny Smoov

Kids' arrest outrages Murfreesboro community

Police handcuffed multiple students, ages 6 to 11, at a public elementary school in Murfreesboro on Friday, April 15, inspiring public outcry and adding fuel to already heightened tensions between law enforcement and communities of color nationwide.

 

The arrests at Hobgood Elementary School occurred after the students were accused of not stopping a fight that happened several days earlier off campus. A juvenile center later released the students, but local community members now call for action — police review of the incident and community conversation — and social justice experts across the country use words such as "startling" and "flabbergasted" in response to actions in the case.

Parents and community members sharply criticized the arrests of the students at a church meeting last Sunday. The Murfreesboro police chief on last Sunday cited the incident as a learning experience, a chance to "make things better so they don't happen again." The city manager said : "If something needs to be corrected, it will be."

It remains unclear exactly how many children were arrested. State law prohibits the release of juvenile law enforcement records, and police have denied a media request for the information. Murfreesboro police didn't say what state law the kids violated, but parents of several of the arrested children say the kids were charged with "criminal responsibility for conduct of another," which according to Tennessee criminal offense code includes incidents when a "person fails to make a reasonable effort to prevent" an offense.

 

At least five of the 10 children reportedly involved are black. Police officials have said they plan to complete a review of the arrest incident within the next 15 days.

 

The arresting officer for at least three of the 10 children taken into police custody Friday is listed on arrest records as School Safety Education Officer Chrystal Templeton. The paperwork provided by Zacchaeus Crawford for three of his children also shows Judicial Commissioner Amy Anderson signed the petitions, or juvenile warrants, for the Crawford children’s arrest. Both women are white.

 

When reached by phone Tuesday, Anderson would not confirm whether she signed those warrants and then hung up.

 

At a time of heightened tension in the country between police and the residents of the neighborhoods they protect — particularly minority communities — the incident raises concerns regarding several national issues, including the over-disciplining of kids of color, the criminalization of childhood behaviors and the growing mistrust some residents have with law enforcement.

 

"It's unimaginable, unfathomable that authority figures would ... do something that has such implications," said Bishop Joseph Walker III, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Nashville. "When we, as a community, are telling our kids don’t get involved in violence and don’t get in harm's way, (arresting them for not intervening) is the most amazing paradox of our society — and it is devastating to us."

 

Children, by definition, are immature, said Stephanie Bohon, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the founder of the school's Center for the Study of Social Justice. It's appropriate to ground them or give them detention, she said, but "when you deal with that kind of behavior by handcuffing children and running them through the legal system, the first thing they learn is the police are there to punish them, and they are not there to help them."

 

Children should be held to a different standard when it comes to accountability, Walker said.

 

"They don’t have the maturity to understand certain situations," like when to intervene, he said. And to be arrested for not taking action, "They will be forever scarred because of that."

More than 150 people, almost entirely African-American, gathered at First Baptist Church on East Castle Street in Murfreesboro last Sunday afternoon to discuss the incident. One attendee asked why the charges against the children could not be dismissed.

 

In addition to angry parents and supporters, Murfreesboro Police Chief Karl Durr and City Manager Rob Lyons were in the crowd. Christopher Williams, the school safety and education officer at Hobgood on the day of the incident, said that the Hobgood administration and office staff "handled the situation as wonderfully and as good as they could have."

 

A video was taken of the incident, and officers later obtained arrest warrants for students who did not break up the disturbance, said the Rev. James McCarroll, pastor of First Baptist Church. Information about who took the video and how the police obtained it is not clear.

 

Such arrests, experts say, can damage a decades-old movement by many police forces working to build trust in their districts using community policing.

 

Fundamentally, community policing is a proactive partnership with citizens to address public safety issues that induce crime, fear and social disorder. It involves police transparency and collective problem-solving where police engage with residents outside of typical law enforcement interactions to address worrisome conditions.

 

When it works well, the practice helps community members assist police in controlling crime in their neighborhoods. Residents feel valued and validated, and they are invested in the actions and outcomes, rather than feeling that officers only enforce laws with aggressive actions, such as bullying, handcuffs, guns and abuse.

 

But, with headlines dominated by incidents such as the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., relationships between police and the residents of the neighborhoods they protect — particularly minority communities — have become strained.

 

Nationally, the number of cases where students have been arrested for incidents on campus are plentiful.

 

One such case in Baltimore parallels the one in Murfreesboro, where four students younger than 10 were arrested at school for an incident that occurred off campus.

-*The Tennessean

photo via raw story

Views: 186

Comment

You need to be a member of Kenny Online.NET to add comments!

Join Kenny Online.NET

Comment by Mahogany on April 26, 2016 at 3:38am
As I was explaining to my nieces just yesterday they are the children of the fig tree generation they shall be the ones to truly fight and win against the kenites with the help of our Heavenly Father many have not been shown their true end time destiny but with stunts such as thus they shall be shown fairly quickly. By the way race no longer has nothing to do with it many nonkenite individuals make up all the races these days. Now is the time they have no choice but to let the world understand Nubians and Caucasians are and have been in the same boat get treated the same way sadly Caucasians been treated poorly undercover for a few particular reasons.....

Peace, Love and Harmony

Focused on the Urban Lifestyle, Nightlife, and Issues in Nashville for Adults of "All Ages". We keep you connected!



© 2024   Created by Kenny Smoov.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

Your SEO optimized title page contents