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No Excuse: Bullying Is Wrong No Matter Who's Doing It

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

Florida's 'boot camp' aggravated manslaughter trial has opened the door to discussion regarding issues that are not so easily dismissed by 'They were acquitted' or 'Well, the state doesn't run that kind of program anymore.'

I'm talking about events such as the gratuitous Tasering of a University of Florida student, the alleged neighborhood bullying incident involving an off-duty law enforcement officer in Lithia and heavy-handed tactics employed from airports to roadsides to treatment programs.

I've noticed a disquieting tendency in America to grant unwarranted license to authority simply because we have been running scared. Far from increasing our sense of security, boorish behavior by poorly trained officials instead conjures a police state image far too close for comfort.

There's a shift toward 'guilty until proven innocent,' toward probable suspicion rather than probable cause and away from the free exercise of dissent in favor of control.

Two weeks ago, I was called for jury duty. The case being tried was for armed robbery, and I was shocked at how many people in the jury pool said variations of: 'They wouldn't arrest him if he wasn't guilty of something.'

It made me reflect on how easy it is to lose our objectivity and our reason, to become prejudicial in response to our fears and ignorance, and to compromise the principles that define a free society simply because we want to ease our personal anxieties.

Wire-tapping is a case in point. If I've heard 'People who are innocent have nothing to worry about' once, I've heard it a thousand times. It's a short distance to: 'If you had been more polite when you were pulled over for changing lanes without a signal, you wouldn't have been cuffed and thrown on the ground.'

If the presumption of innocence doesn't include commensurate respect and courtesy, then what does such a standard really mean?

When I taught challenged students in Florida's public schools, we had to be vigilant to avoid reactionary patterns. Physical intimidation and misuse of authority are cheap and easy solutions more often utilized when we're ill-prepared, tired, overworked, fearful, embarrassed or angry. When several of these factors come into play, abuse is almost unavoidable without the proper skill sets in place.

That's why one school at which I taught made sure every teacher and aide was trained and certified in crisis prevention. The course was available for law enforcement, and police forces have been trained nationwide.

When I worked in community mental health, we analyzed our incident reports. The majority of takedowns were avoidable. Additionally, the use of appropriate techniques quickly ensured that necessary physical intervention could be managed without violence.

Bullying, striking, punching, kicking, clubbing, pepper-spraying or the use of a stun gun, especially when the person is cuffed, reveals more about those in authority than it does the supposed miscreant. In the majority of cases, such conduct says loud and clear: 'I'm poorly trained and I don't have the skill or the imagination to handle this any better.'

One year, I worked in a school with two physical education teachers. The woman - about 5-foot-2 and 100 pounds - used respect, positive motivation and creative teaching to manage her class. The other, a large man with a chip on his shoulder, relied on bullying. Guess which group ran more smoothly and with the least amount of trouble?

My point is this: Although Bay County's juvenile boot camp defendants were acquitted of aggravated manslaughter, they were obviously ill-equipped to deal with the crisis. Few in authority are. Instead, they aggravated matters via unreasonable demands for compliance.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not a rebel, I'm not an agitator and I'm not big on civil disobedience. I am increasingly suspicious of a civil authority culture that overvalues unthinking compliance.

People with official authority - uniformed personnel, teachers, security workers, principals, elected officials - have no standing above that of a citizen. They hold such positions to be of service, not to put us in our place.

Let's never forget the proper order, and let's always resist bullying in any form and wherever it rears its head.

Columnist Derek Maul can be reached at derekmaul@gmail .com.

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