The Exponent - Purdue's Student Newspaper

Several fine, upstanding police departments have recently saved several areas of our country from severe threats to our security, safety and well-being.

No, they did not arrest burglars. Nor did they arrest any rapists. They didn't even arrest murderers.

Nay, they arrested the most dangerous criminals of them all.

Children.

Did you just breathe a sigh of relief?

The most recent upholding of public safety was an arrest of a 6-year-old girl in her kindergarten class in Avon Park, Fla. Apparently, she had a "violent run-in" with her teacher in the class. Police claim that the little girl became angry about something and attempted to kick and scratch, even hitting another teacher trying to intervene.

So what did they do with this 50-pound terror? The school called the police, who subsequently handcuffed her and put her in a police cruiser. She was taken to and booked in the Highland County Jail (where harmless criminals like rapists and murderers reside) and charged with a felony and two misdemeanors.

She even got a mug shot.

Chief Frank Mercurio of Avon Police Department defended his officers' actions. "When there is an outburst of violence, we have a duty to protect and make that school a safe environment for the students, staff and faculty. That's why, at this point, the person was arrested regardless what the age."

It also seems like police are really developing an intuition for juvenile killers. Nipping it in the bud, no doubt was their theory; so in 2005, a 10-year-old fifth-grader, also from Florida, was arrested for bringing a toy gun to school. The toy gun had an orange tip, but police claimed it looked like a real gun other than that. "(It is) one of the things we take very seriously, due to the fact (that) even though it was a toy, it appears to be like the real thing, like a real gun. Just to prevent this (from) escalating, we went ahead and arrested the boy," said Detective Carlos Negron of the Hollywood, Fla., police on the incident.

It's a good thing they "went ahead and arrested" him. How horrible if that toy gun had killed someone.

Thankfully, Police Against Criminal Children isn't just a Florida-based operation. No, Maryland police forces are also picking up tips on fighting back against hooligan kids. In March, Baltimore police arrested a 7-year-old boy named Gerard Mungo Jr. for riding a motorized dirt bike on a sidewalk.

While sitting on his bike with the engine off, he was approached by an officer, pulled off of the bike by the cuff of his shirt and arrested. He was then handcuffed to a bench and interrogated by police before being released to his parents. They even fingerprinted him and took a mug shot.

He learned his lesson, I'm sure, because he told the Baltimore Examiner "they scared me" before breaking down in tears. Perhaps next time he'll think hard before he tries to ride any dirt bikes on sidewalks again.

In the meantime, maybe we'll all think hard about who's protecting who against what. While violent crimes continue to occur, at least we'll be comforted with the fact that some police officers are fighting the real criminals - our children.

Dang kids.

Anne Reznicek is a sophomore in the College of Liberal Arts. She can be reached via e-mail at anne.reznicek@purdueexponent.org.