-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Two Derby, Kansas police officers, acting as school resource officers, ordered Jonathan Villarreal, 17, to pull his pants above his waist. Jonathan was walking with friends to the bus after school let out, and he told the officers he would wear his pants how he wanted. According to Jonathan, one of the officers pulled him to the ground and both officers kneed him in the back and neck. During the struggle, Jonathan’s arm was broken and he was tased.
The officers handcuffed him until paramedics ordered the cuffs removed. Jonathan was taken by ambulance to the hospital where he was treated and released.
The police claim that Villarreal used profanities when officer asked him to pull up his pants. The officers tried to escort Villarreal back inside the school, but he refused to go.
Derby Police Chief Robert Lee said his department will investigate to see if the use of force was appropriate.
If the police officers have nothing better to do than to enforce dress codes after school is out, maybe their presence and corresponding expense are unnecessary. The police should be there to respond to criminal conduct or imminent danger, school officials should be enforcing dress codes.
This is an example of the School-to-Prison Pipeline, wherein minor offenses are dealt with using the juvenile and criminal justice system. Often these minor offense escalate due to over aggressive policing. The blame for this situation lies squarely with school officials. They seem more interested in preserving their authority than in providing an educational opportunity for every child. Challenging authority is a virtue, not a vice. This country was founded on the restriction of authority and the celebration of the individual.
Being arrested nearly doubles the odds that a child will drop out of school, and if there is a court appearance, the odds are nearly quadrupled. Disproportionately, it kids of color who are victims of these police tactics.
H/T: ACLU, The Wichita Eagle.
“The police claim that Villarreal used profanities when officer asked him to pull up his pants.”
Because breaking someones arm for sounding stupid is much better than breaking their arm for looking stupid?
Agree with Elaine M.
Woosty,
School had been dismissed. I don’t see what right the police officer had to demand that the young man pull up his pants when he was on his way to the bus. The police may be stationed outside that school in order to troubleshoot problems if they should arise. I don’t think they should be there to tell kids how to dress once they are on their own time.
“…but there is a point that was crossed waaaay before this confrontation that would be interesting to know about.’
If there was a point that was crossed way before this confrontation–as you suggest–then it would appear that it was the police who instigated the problem in regard to this incident.
There is no law against wearing one’s pants below one’s waist. If the facts are as described, then these cops physically assaulted a person because they did not like his style of dress. They should be criminally prosecuted in the same manner that a non-cop would be for committing that crime.
When an officer or officers behave in this manner, it is my opinion that the State POST Commission automatically revoke the officer’s certification. They should have to undergo a thorough mental health screening before being recertified. Most POST exams are nothing more than screenings done as inexpensively as possible for the department. It is not unusual for an officer to be referred back to the psychologist or psychiatrist on a later date for a closer look if they mess up or appear to be having problems.
I posit that in the event of a citizen complaint of this magnitude, the POST Certificate revocation be at the State level and not be reinstated–if at all–until after a thorough follow up mental examination that will go far beyond the level of initial screening. The decision to re-certify should be taken out of the hands of local officials. That will eliminate the home cookin’ aspect of these issues.
The screenings weed out the obviously unstable, but given the superficial nature of most POST exams due to budgetary restraints, some who should not pass may slip through.
Where we live the cops hide in the bushes to catch kids smoking cigarettes. And Carlyle I do think there is a racial element in it.
We live in a former agricultural center that adjoins Madison and Fitchburg. Fitchburg includes the Allied neighborhood which is where the projects are and where the minorities who moved up from Chicago live. The rest of Fitchburg includes fairly expensive housing.
Fitchburg deals with this by not having schools at all. They contract to send all their kids from all their neighborhoods to three different school districts.
Verona compensates for this by having really strict police in general and coming down very hard on all teens. They are extremely strict about kids driving with more than one other person while they are on provisional driver’s licenses. They have lists of the license plates of the kids with the first time driver’s licenses and they search for them. Each time a kid gets caught with two kids in your car the provisional license is extended for another six months. It’s really expensive too because it also increases insurance rates. When they catch a kid with two kids in the car, they bring in the drug dogs too.
” Challenging authority is a virtue, not a vice. This country was founded on the restriction of authority and the celebration of the individual.”
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yes, but I would add that intelligently and appropriately challenging authority is not a vice. And the founders…did they simply ‘restrict’ authority? or did they only ensure (through checks and balances…)that it not become unbalanced so as to be uncontrolled? The most effective authority is the one that uses the LEAST amount of power necessary to accomplish a thing. Why did this school need police to act as ‘resource officers’?, and what the heck does that title mean in that situation anyway?
need more input, this does not compute…….
Charlie Applestein has a remarkable way with troubled youth. (I’ve heard him speak a couple of times, as well as witnessed him in action.) One of his books is titled: “No Such Thing as a Bad Kid”, though he agrees that a few are “characterologically damaged”…
http://newenglandmentors.ning.com/profiles/blogs/believing-in-kids-saves-livesa
The blame for this situation lies squarely with school officials. They seem more interested in preserving their authority than in providing an educational opportunity for every child. Challenging authority is a virtue, not a vice. This country was founded on the restriction of authority and the celebration of the individual.
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Devils advocate here, isn’t the whole ‘low rider’ style something that began in prison…and a bit of a ‘badge’ of affiliation? Kids should understand this if it is so…that it is not simply a fashion statement. And as far as blaming the school officials, they have an obligation to preserve SOME of thier authority….or every child that goes to school and DOESn’t do the whole ‘pants on the ground’ scene will be a sitting duck for bullying or gang behaviour. These cops were out of line, obviously, a broken arm when you are talking about wardrobe is a big red flag….but there is a point that was crossed waaaay before this confrontation that would be interesting to know about. Here in Florida there are places where it is not legal to dress like this and it would be intentionally taunting or begging for confrontation with authority…which is NOT always the bad guy….
Who’s Minding the Kids?: Have Profits Distorted the Mission of Rehabilitating Inmates at Mississippi’s Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility?
http://jonathanturley.org/2011/03/27/who%e2%80%99s-minding-the-kids-have-profits-distorted-the-mission-of-rehabilitating-inmates-at-mississippi%e2%80%99s-walnut-grove-youth-correctional-facility/
Town Relies On Troubled Youth Prison For Profits
by John Burnett
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/25/134850972/town-relies-on-troubled-youth-prison-for-profits
Do you remember this story?
Pennsylvania rocked by ‘jailing kids for cash’ scandal
February 23, 2009|By Stephanie Chen CNN
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-23/justice/pennsylvania.corrupt.judges_1_detention-judges-number-of-juvenile-offenders?_s=PM:CRIME
anon nurse brings up a good point. For all the talk about sociopaths that goes on on this blog, it is important to realize that true sociopaths only represent between 1%-4% of the population. And I’d like to point out that baggy pants is not on any of the accepted lists of medical criteria for diagnosis. It’s fashion stupidity perhaps, but if a person wants to dress in a ridiculous manner, they shouldn’t get a beat down and broken arm for their efforts either.
Carlyle Moulton, Thanks for the comment, link, and book recommendation. I worked in a facility for troubled kids… Some of the things that I saw broke my heart… Though there were a few sociopathic types, by and large they were good kids. Love and respect worked wonders…
“…perverts local police officers into goon squads.”
Yes. And the goon squads are working our streets…
Carlyle Moulton, Thanks for the comment, link, and book recommendation. I worked in a facility for troubled kids… Some of the things that I saw broke my heart… Though there were a few sociopathic types — by and large they were good kids. Love and respect worked wonders…
In spite of our rage we are still just rats in a cage in the mind of corrupt officials.
Wartocracy ideology is trickle down, so eventually it works its way down to a level where it perverts local police officers into goon squads.
This is an appropriate thread on which to encourage interest in Michelle Alexander’s recent book “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.”
This short article by Michelle Alexander at Friends of Justice gives a very brief summary of the thesis of the book.
A correct name for the war on drugs is The war on Niggers, Hispanics, hippies and poor people.
There exists a deliberate strategy of getting young coloured people registered in the criminal justice system as early as possible, so that their pictures are on file and can be used in photo lineups whenever a white woman claims to have been raped by a Black.
Nal,
From the School-to-Prison Pipeline link:
The ACLU’s Racial Justice Program is committed to challenging the “school to prison pipeline,” a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and counseling services. Instead, they are isolated, punished and pushed out. “Zero-tolerance” policies criminalize minor infractions of school rules, while high-stakes testing programs encourage educators to push out low-performing students to improve their schools’ overall test scores. Students of color are especially vulnerable to push-out trends and the discriminatory application of discipline.
The ACLU believes that children should be educated, not incarcerated. We are working to challenge numerous policies and practices within public school systems and the juvenile justice system that contribute to the school to prison pipeline.
http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/school-prison-pipeline
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This is truly disturbing!
Well…what will they think of next….
Kids of color….unfortunately….that is the rule rather than the exception….but police authority brutality knows no bounds when it comes to certain neighborhoods….some seem to merit more attention than others….
Nal:
BINGO!!!!!!!
” The police should be there to respond to criminal conduct or imminent danger, school officials should be enforcing dress codes.”