Father asks police to supervise daughter’s spanking

Today 2 January 2015
With the debate over corporal punishment heating up, some parents who want to spank their children are asking the police to supervise to make sure they won’t get into legal trouble.

A 42-year-old man called the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office in Okeechobee, Florida, on Monday to request that an officer be present when he punished his 12-year-old daughter who had gotten into a violent argument with her sister.

“(He) wanted me to stand by while he spanked her with the paddle… I stood by as (he) spanked (her) 4 times on her buttocks. Since no crime had been committed, this case is closed,” the responding officer wrote in the incident report.

The Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office did not have a spokesperson available on Friday, but Undersheriff Noel Stephen told a local TV station that parents have made similar requests before.

“It happens,” Stephen told WPBF in West Palm Beach. “It’s definitely not something we advertise to do, and even though law enforcement has been willing to help out in this situation, watching a parent discipline their child is something that’s done only when a deputy has no other calls to handle.”

Stephen estimated he has supervised 12 spankings, he told the station.
http://www.today.com/parents/florida-father-asks-police-supervise-daughters-spanking-1D80400270