http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/toronto_cops_handcuff_9-year-old_following_tantrum/16d79769
I think if they really needed some intervention; they should call them but don't handcuff the poor guy for crying out loud! Did he kill anybody? No. He just threw some chairs and splashed some paint on the floor. So, why are they handcuffing him? If he didn't do anything criminally (against the law). Then why would they handcuff him? In a pair of adult handcuffs!! I guess they didn't know what to do.
Maybe police should have special training on dealing with situations that involve people with mental disabilities like autism. So that in a situation like this they can go in and know exactly what to do. Like putting the person in a quiet place by themselves so that they can work it out and come back when they're ready. NOT trying to calm them down and talk to them intensely. Putting a little boy in handcuffs makes him seem bad and them seem like they're mad at him instead of wanting to help work out the situation. People need to know about autism so they can help. There needs to be more education in the Government about it.
1 comment:
Well my first question is why were the police called in the first place? Seems to me if a care centre is going to accept a child with special needs then they had better be trained how to deal with it.
I am also aware that to prevent harm to self and others restraint protocol is sometimes necessary.
There are a lot of gaps in the story so no one can say if the child was still agitated to the point of causing more harm, if so to remove him most safely from the situation handcuffs might not have been the worst option, could likely have prevented some potential injuries of other physical restraints to the child or harm to others from a struggle. However i think that him barricading himself in the room was probably what he needed most to self calm at the time.
I am actually more upset with the staff that was ill equipped to handle the child than i was with the police in the story.
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