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ALEX LEARY and THOMAS C. TOBINSt. Petersburg police list a strict code for how officers must deal with children under 8.
ST. PETERSBURG - Police no longer will handcuff young children unless they are armed or considered violent, Chief Chuck Harmon announced Thursday.
Hoping to avoid the controversy and worldwide media frenzy spawned by the handcuffing of a 5-year-old girl in March, Harmon outlined strict new rules that limit what officers can do to children under 8.
The changes dovetail with a new school directive preventing principals from calling police to discipline young students except in life-threatening situations.
"This child needed some intervention, but I don't think it was by law enforcement," Harmon said in a news conference, reaffirming a stance he took after the March 14 incident at Fairmount Park Elementary.
Two police officers who responded that day were given minor reprimands, but for reasons unrelated to the handcuffs.
The episode began after the kindergartener got upset over a jelly bean counting exercise. She made a mess in the classroom, stomped on a desk and threw punches at her assistant principal, sparking a media sensation when a videotape was released in April.
Police handcuffed the girl - at one point replacing metal cuffs with plastic ties because her wrists were so tiny - and put her in the back of a squad car. She later was released to her mother because prosecutors said they were not interested in the case.
Hundreds of people e-mailed the Police Department, many outraged by the handcuffing but others blaming the girl's mother, who was paid to tell her story to A Current Affair and intends to file a lawsuit.
One-time presidential candidate Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton spoke out as questions of racial bias were raised.
But a police investigation found no evidence that race played a role, and officials have pointed out that the lead officer, Mark Williams, is black, as is the student.
Williams was cited for not keeping in radio contact and for showing the girl handcuffs and clicking them when called to the school on a previous matter March 8.
"We don't use those for intimidation," Harmon said Thursday.
Another officer, Nicholas Lazzari, will receive training on the state's Baker Act, which allows police to involuntarily detain people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. Investigators said Lazzari incorrectly suggested the girl could qualify.
Under the new rules announced Thursday, dispatchers who take calls involving students in kindergarten through third grade must first ask if Pinellas Schools Police have been contacted. Superintendent Clayton Wilcox has directed principals at the district's elementary schools to do the same.
If school police have been reached, city police will not be sent except in "aggravating, extreme circumstances," according to the policy.
And even in those cases, officers must consult a supervisor before taking a child into custody. The supervisor will consider alternative ways of resolving the conflict, including calling a parent and using de-escalation techniques.
Still, Harmon stopped short of an absolute ban on using handcuffs, even on very young children.
"If a child possesses a weapon or is totally violent ... or has drugs ... I'm not going to take that ability away from them," Harmon said. "Because securing the child is not only for the safety of the officer, it's for the safety of the child."
Had the policy been in effect March 14, the officers would be in violation because the girl was calm when they arrived. Harmon said a child must be acting violently in the presence of police in order to merit handcuffing.
Some critics said the officers' stern, swift response made things worse.
"You need to calm down. You need to do it now. Okay?" one officer said. Seconds later, three officers approached, stood the girl up, put her hands behind her back and put on handcuffs.
She bent over the table and let out a terrified scream:
"No. Nooooo. Ahhhhh," she cried.
The chief was careful not to condemn the officers, but indicated he preferred a different outcome. "I'm not going to say it was wrong," he said, "but it was premature."
Although the chief did not call Wilcox before Thursday's announcement, the superintendent said Harmon's actions appear to dovetail with the school district's response to the incident.
Wilcox has told principals that city police are not to be called for discipline issues involving elementary school students. The exception would be a life-threatening situation, he said.
Instead, schools are to call the Pinellas schools police, school district employees specifically trained to deal with children.
"We've also talked to administrators about the need to involve guidance counselors earlier, school social workers and psychologists when these behaviors escalate" as they did in the case of the Fairmount Park student, Wilcox said. "We have actually spent some time talking about the rooms, the places where kids are taken when they have escalated their behaviors."
He added that the district has "started to do a much stronger job" of training. More than 50 schools are undergoing new training designed to cut down on behavior problems using positive methods, he said.
"There are a lot of things going on," he said. "It's kind of a high level issue for us."
The girl was transferred last year to another elementary school in the Pinellas system and is enrolled there as a first-grader this year.
Her mother could not be reached Thursday. An attorney for the law firm that has taken her case said the policy changes are a positive step but do not offset what happened March 14.
"She was behaving badly, don't get me wrong," said attorney Tricia "C.K." Hoffler of the Stuart-based firm. "But it was excessive use of force and power to have the police come in and intervene. ... She has been damaged for life."
Alex Leary can be reached at 717 893-8472 or leary@sptimes.com