Why you shouldn’t tell your kids the cops will take them away if they don’t behave
A Midlands police department issued a request on Tuesday to parents trying to control their misbehaving kids.
In a social media post, the Chapin Police Department asked parents to “please stop telling your children that we will haul them off to jail if they are bad.”
“We want them to run to us if they are scared,” the post stated. “Not be scared of us.”
The post was captioned, “This happens a lot of and imprints negatively on children.”
The Chapin Police Department is not alone in this request. Police and sheriff’s agencies nationwide have echoed the same concern, creating community relations department that allow officers to interact with children in positive manner.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department, for example, holds “High Five Fridays” at schools throughout the county as part an effort to build trust between children and law enforcement.
Last month, an interaction with a Greenville County Sheriff’s deputy changed the “outlook on officers” of a South Carolina mother, after her 4-year-old son asked if he could hug the deputy.
Cynthia Roldán: @CynthiaRoldan
This story was originally published November 8, 2017 at 10:26 AM.