Police handcuff children as number of 111 calls from schools rise

Stuff co.nz 3 September 2017
A principal who’s had to call police to deal with violent kids says children need better access to mental health support.
The intermediate school head, who asked to remain anonymous to protect the school community, said police had been called to her school to deal with violent children “four or five times” in the past two years.
Once, a child was threatening another with scissors; in two cases, police had to handcuff children to keep them under control.
Police were called to schools or tertiary institutions 2810 times to deal with alleged violence, crime and other offending. The increased call-out numbers included 552 to deal with “acts intended to cause injury”.
Generally children who acted up so badly were in need of mental health care and were very fragile and angry, she added. “They need high end clinical support, they need therapy. They don’t get it, they’re only treated by teachers and teacher aides. My staff are not therapists.”
Shane Ngatai is the only one in his school with authority to call the cops because of a pupil’s behaviour.
READ MORE: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/95900765/police-handcuff-children-as-number-of-111-calls-from-schools-rise