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The 10-year-old was handcuffed and taken to a police station after scissors were found in her book bag.
By Susan Snyder / Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
Dec. 11, 2004

A 10-year-old fourth-grade girl at Holme Elementary School in the Far Northeast was pulled out of class, handcuffed, and taken to the local police station in the back of a police wagon earlier this week after a pair of 8-inch scissors were found in her book bag, according to authorities and her angry mother.

Wow, a Colt 45 of scissors! Still, Handcuffing? For scissors? An 8-year-old with scissors is like a blind person with a cane. They go together. Schools simply cannot outlaw common objects without turning good students into outlaws.

School district and police officials said yesterday that they were following state law and procedures in dealing with students who have weapons on school property. They say that those rules demand police be called and that procedures call for handcuffing suspects regardless of age or crime.

It's a bald-faced lie. Scissors are not "weapons" under the criminal law absent the special circumstances that show the scissors were either used or intended to be used to inflict physical harm on another person. What is more likely the case is that the school disciplinary code defines scissors as weapons, regardless of student use or intent. But not all scissors. Oh, No!!! Not the scissors in the superintendent and principal's desks! Those are not weapons. Only scissors in students' backpacks are weapons.

Ordinary items commonly used for non-violent purposes cannot reasonably be defined as weapons unless they are used or intended to be used as a weapon.

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Porsche Brown's mother, Rose Jackson, was outraged.

"My daughter cried and cried," Jackson said yesterday. "She had no idea what she did was wrong. I think that was way too harsh."

Want to know why public schools don't have more parental involvement? Want to know why 12% of students attend private or home schools? Want to know why public education doesn't have broader support? This is why. 1,000 times a day, another future voter and his/her currently voting family are outraged at the stupidity of government educators.

Jackson said principal Ethel M. Cabry had known Porsche for four years and should have called her home.

"I want something done to that principal and that teacher. They didn't notify me about my baby. They called the police," Jackson said.

Why, mom! Isn't that what you would have done? After all, school officials are just acting in loco parentis. They are the ones who truly care about children. I think school officials would probably suggest you get some counseling and learn to be a better parent.

PARENTS: YOU EITHER HAVE TO OVERTURN THESE STUPID RULES OR GET OUT THE STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT AND CONDUCT A SECURITY CHECK EVERYDAY BEFORE YOUR CHILD GOES TO SCHOOL OR THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOUR CHILD.

District spokesman Fernando Gallard acknowledged that Cabry had not called Jackson but said that school police called her when they phoned city police.

School district officials acknowledged that the girl was not using the item as a weapon or threatening anyone with it. The scissors were found Thursday morning during a search of students' belongings after something was discovered missing from the teacher's desk area, Gallard said.

So, the scissors were found during a suspicionless search. It's time to call a lawyer.

The scissors, however, qualified as a possible weapon under a long-standing state law, and the school followed proper procedure by calling city police, he said.

That's right. Scissors are a possible weapon. To become a weapon the person must use, threaten to use, or intend to use them to inflict physical harm on another person.

Now, EVERY police officer following appropriate investigative protocol would have first ascertained whether the scissors were used or intended to be used as a weapon BEFORE PUTTING ANY PEACEFUL SUSPECT INTO HANDCUFFS. This is a case of false arrest and incompetent police practices.

Porsche will be suspended for five days, and the district will then decide whether to expel her to a disciplinary school or allow her to return to Holme, he said.

City police, meanwhile, decided not to charge her with a crime because they determined that she had no intent to use the scissors as a weapon, said Inspector William Colarulo, a police spokesman. In fact, police believe she had the scissors to unwrap a new CD, Colarulo said.

Is there some reason why the school, which cares so much about this child, couldn't have figured that out first?

He defended the police officers' decision to handcuff the child and take her to Eighth Police District headquarters. All suspects, regardless of age or crime, are handcuffed, he said. "The officers acted in good faith," he said.

WRONG. These officers could not have acted in good faith unless they had probable cause to believe that each and every element of a crime had been committed. They know that scissors are not commonly used as weapons, therefore they must first have developed probable cause to believe the child had used the scissors as a weapon or intended to use them as such. But they didn't do that. They arrested first and went searching for probable cause later. That's professional malpractice and these officers should be reprimanded.

Jackson, who maintained that her daughter had the scissors for a previous school assignment, said that if the district acted based on state law, the law must be changed.

"This should be done per case," based on circumstances. She said her daughter did nothing to warrant police intervention: "She's like, 'Mom, we use scissors in school.'"

DO YOU SEE THAT YOU IDIOT ADMINISTRATORS? How can you possibly expect even adults, let alone children, to figure out they can be suspended and arrested for possessing the same kinds of tools they use in school? This is a trap for the innocent caused by paranoia over a couple of sociopaths in one school district many years ago.

NEW SCHOOL MOTTO: UNTIL WE ALL BECOME CRIMINALS, NONE OF US CAN BE SAFE.