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Normalizing the police state
Bob Herbert recently wrote about the overzealous enforcement of "peace officers" assigned to New York City schools. The officers are accused of detaining, searching, handcuffing, and arresting students for silly things like drawing on desks, or handling–not using, but handling–cell phones in school.
In one case, a safety officer kicked in the door of a stall in the boys' bathroom, wounding a student's head. The officer's response to questioning about the matter was: "That's life. It will stop bleeding."
Another student, this time a 5-year-old, was shipped off to a hospital psychiatric ward for throwing a tantrum.
These absurd reactions to normal childhood behavior is all part of "Zero Tolerance." Six-year-old Zachary Christie faced disciplinary action after bringing a Cub Scout utensil that can serve as a knife, fork, and spoon to school. Apparently, the state of Delaware is terrified of children shanking each other, and after all, it's the era of Zero Tolerance.