Reply #20: Follow-up : Police rules change for cuffs on kids [View All]

[soup]

St. Petersburg police list a strict code for how officers must deal with children under 8.

By ALEX LEARY and THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published August 5, 2005


ST. PETERSBURG - Police no longer will handcuff young children unless they are armed or considered violent, Chief Chuck Harmon announced Thursday.

Hoping to avoid the controversy and worldwide media frenzy spawned by the handcuffing of a 5-year-old girl in March, Harmon outlined strict new rules that limit what officers can do to children under 8.

> Under the new rules announced Thursday, dispatchers who take calls involving students in kindergarten through third grade must first ask if Pinellas Schools Police have been contacted. Superintendent Clayton Wilcox has directed principals at the district's elementary schools to do the same.

If school police have been reached, city police will not be sent except in "aggravating, extreme circumstances," according to the policy.

> Still, Harmon stopped short of an absolute ban on using handcuffs, even on very young children.

"If a child possesses a weapon or is totally violent ... or has drugs ... I'm not going to take that ability away from them," Harmon said. "Because securing the child is not only for the safety of the officer, it's for the safety of the child."
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/05/Southpinellas/Police_rules_change_f.shtml

also available at the above link:

Documents:
Police department memorandum on new policy
Police department investigation report

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