WHAT GOES AROUND ...
Two-part feature:
1. Story of cop who spanked
8-year-old kid.
2. What readers of the Seattle Times thought about that
...
Cop who spanked boy gets punished
himself
By the time Seattle police officer Richard Roberson
met him, the 8-year-old boy was known around West Seattle as a real
troublemaker. He ran away from home so often his mother sometimes had to
handcuff her wrist to his. The boy would hop on Metro buses without
paying and take off to places such as Enumclaw, Everett, Issaquah and
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. One time, he tried to get to Mount
Rainier. Another time, after his mother hid his shoes, he was found
wandering downtown Seattle — in roller skates.
“For some reason,” Roberson would say later, “I felt
after seeing this child, I felt there was some reason I needed to step
in.” So the officer became a father figure, helping the boy with
homework, taking him to movies and even giving him his work cellphone
number. And when the boy kept running, Roberson did one more
thing.
He spanked him.
Roberson's actions raise a question that isn't easily
answered: How far can an officer go in doing his or her job? Roberson is appealing a recent five-day suspension
without pay for spanking the boy on at least five occasions, arguing
that he was trying to solve a long-term community problem with good,
independent police work. The boy's mother said she gave Roberson permission
each time to spank her child. To protect the boy's identity, neither the
boy nor his mother is being named. She said that before the spankings began, she and
Roberson agreed he would take on the role of big brother and mentor to
her son, who has been diagnosed with emotional and mental problems. The
boy's biological father lives in another state.
“Both prior to and after (each spanking), he explained
to my son what was going on, what he was doing wrong, like any parent
would,” the mother said last month. “Yes, I thought it was having a positive effect on my
child because there was a male figure monitoring him. He was trying to
shape up; he had somebody interested in him.”
Roberson, 50, is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army
who is married, has three grown children and helped run a day-care
center with his wife. He said he chose police work as a second career
because he thought he could “make a difference.”
Roberson and the mother say that because of their
agreement, Roberson did not violate state law when he spanked the boy.
Specifically, state law says: “Physical discipline of
a child is not unlawful when it is reasonable and moderate and is
inflicted by a parent, teacher or guardian for purposes of restraining
or correcting the child. Any use of force on a child by any other person
is unlawful unless it is reasonable and moderate and is authorized in
advance by the child's parent or guardian for purpose of restraining or
correcting the child.”
Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske acknowledges that
Roberson was well-meaning. But he said public perception of police
officers is important, and Roberson created a potential liability for
the city and the police department. Although no department policy prohibits spanking a
child, that kind of physical discipline is not acceptable police work,
the chief said. “A kid having problems can be very complex, and
diagnosis and treatment requires far more training than any police
officer has,” Kerlikowske said.
The spankings started May 13, 2002, when the boy was
8, and continued through June 2003. The boy is now 10. His mother said
he has matured and his behavior has improved in the past two years.
Kerlikowske disciplined Roberson for misuse of
authority in December 2002 for spanking the child twice while in
uniform. Roberson was suspended for two days. In July 2003, he appealed
to the Public Safety Civil Service Commission, which upheld the
punishment.
While testifying during the appeal, Roberson admitted
he started meeting with the boy again in 2003 after being punished by
the department. He said he spanked the boy at least three more times
that year. Roberson said the circumstances were different in
those spankings because he was off duty and not wearing his uniform.
Nonetheless, in February, Roberson was suspended for five days for
failure to obey orders. The police officers guild has filed an appeal on
his behalf.
Roberson declined to comment for this story, saying he
didn't want to compromise his current appeal. But he said “nothing's
changed” from the argument he made during his first appeal before the
public-safety commission.
Tapes of that hearing, along with police-department
disciplinary records, were released last month to The Seattle Times
under the state's public-records acts.
According to his mother, the boy has emotional and
mental problems, including extreme defiance to authority and attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, which have required counseling or
medication since he was 3 years old. She said she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, which
makes it difficult to run after her son. In addition to the plastic
handcuffs — she received permission from state social workers to use
them — she contemplated buying a harness. The mother testified before the public-safety
commission that she approached at least eight agencies for help. The boy
spent some time at the Seattle Children's Home, a mental-health facility
for youth.
Cheryl Brush, a Seattle police community-service
officer with more than a decade of experience with runaways, was
assigned to the boy's case in early 2002. She extensively documented the boy's behavior,
contacted Child Protective Services and twice pulled together the boy's
mother, teacher, counselor and other social-service providers for
meetings. Brush suggested “wraparound services,” in which the
state pays for a full-time, around-the-clock aide for kids characterized
as society's least-manageable. But the mother said most of the professionals didn't
have good answers and were pressuring her to institutionalize the child.
She said she didn't want to break her family apart.
Meanwhile, the boy's behavior was starting to keep
officers from more pressing issues, said Sgt. Cindy Granard, who
supervised patrol in West Seattle. And officers were becoming
increasingly frustrated chasing the boy around the Puget Sound area. A police report from May 12, 2002, the day before the
boy was first spanked, describes what happened when officers found the
boy after he had run away.
Officers contacted the county's juvenile detention and
were told the boy was too young. Next, they called a juvenile crisis
residential center in Seattle and were told the boy needed to be at
least 12. Then they called the Department of Social and Health Services
and were told DSHS is not a detention center. After making a few more calls, officers took the boy
home and dropped him off with his mother.
“My take on it, the kid was just bored,” said Officer
Shawn Swanson, who now works for the Federal Way Police Department.
Swanson described the boy as “sharp,” with advanced verbal skills. “Any other kid would be satisfied riding his bike
around the block,” Swanson said. “This child is different. He had to go
to the mountain.”
Roberson testified before the public-safety commission
that he met the boy in February 2002, while on patrol. During the next
few months, he talked to the boy and his mother and became concerned
about the boy's safety and the mother's mounting stress. Roberson said he conferred with his wife, his sergeant
and finally the mother and decided to take the child under his wing.
“I really admire the man (Roberson), because he came
forward when no one else would,” the mother said last week.
Roberson testified: “I told (the boy) any time you
feel like you're gonna run, give me a call. ... I treated this child as
if I was treating my own child. I told him there were consequences for
doing bad and rewards for doing good. I told him I would punish him for
running away from home.”
On May 13, 2002, the boy ran. The call went out over
the police radio, and Roberson was dispatched to find the boy. He
rounded him up, returned him home, and “I put him over my knee and I
gave him four swats on the rear,” he told the public-safety commission. The mother and Swanson were both in the room. Roberson
told his sergeant, Granard, about what had happened. But Granard didn't
tell anybody else and was eventually disciplined for it.
On May 16, 2002, the boy ran away again. Roberson was
working an off-duty security job at a nearby Safeway. He told the
dispatchers that he knew the boy and said he'd take care of the
situation. He testified that he drove the boy home in his
personal vehicle, sat him down and explained that when he ran away,
dangerous people might harm him. Then he spanked the boy again, five times, hard enough
to make the boy cry. “Then I stood him up and told him, ‘Now, do you
understand why this happened? Is this gonna happen in the future?’ ”
Roberson testified.
On May 18, 2002, Roberson was called into his
lieutenant's office and told that somebody in the department — not
Swanson — had filed a complaint about the spankings. The lieutenant told
Roberson to stay away from the family. Roberson argued before the public-safety commission
that he had done nothing wrong. He said the department charges its
police officers to be independent thinkers.
“Every day, someone says to you, ‘Go out there and
make a difference. Go out there and do this for the kids,’ ” Roberson
testified. “I'm not a rogue officer. This is an officer who cares. If
I'm going to get slapped down for caring, what's the use? That's the way
I'm starting to feel about this whole thing.”
By Michael Ko Seattle Times staff reporter
4 May 2004
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001918354_spank03m.html
————
What readers are saying
We asked readers to share their thoughts about Seattle police officer
Richard Roberson's actions and his 5-day suspension. Here's a representative sample of the comments submitted:
“When no one else could help a very troubled young boy, Officer
Roberson was there for him. Isn't that what we WANT of our police
officers? Obviously a spanking isn't the first choice of action, but it
sounds as though Roberson went above and beyond every call of duty to
try and help the boy in every way possible. It sounds like he was making
a positive and parent-supported difference in the boy's life, as no one
else could. He deserves commendation, not reprimand. I pray this young
boy gets the help he needs, I fear boys like him are falling through the
cracks in every growing numbers.”
— Cathy Godwin, Olympia
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I must express my outrage regarding the story of Seattle Police
Officer Richard Roberson and his so-called discipline of the eight-year
old boy whom he spanked. As stated in the May 3rd article, ‘According to
his mother, the boy has emotional and mental problems, including extreme
defiance to authority and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
which have required counseling or medication since he was 3 years old.’
What insanity could ever lead anyone to conclude that a child suffering
such difficulties would benefit from being hit? Whether or not the
mother gave permission is immaterial; Roberson should have known, as any
reasonable person would, that hitting a child with emotional and mental
problems is completely inappropriate. Furthermore, I feel that this is
the worst sort of abuse of the badge. I wonder if either mother or cop
considered the possible effects of spanking a child who already has
issues with authority. Increased hatred and fear of authority would seem
a likely consequence of being physically punished by a police officer.
Shame on both Officer Roberson and the unnamed mother. It is neither the
responsibility or the right of police officers to mete out punishments,
nor should the mother have condoned it. Kudos to Chief Kerlikowske for
suspending this officer for abusing a troubled child. Furious in
Seattle.”
— Paul Moore, Seattle
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I think it is remarkable that this officer has taken this
‘problem
child’ under his wing and tried to teach him wrong from right. Since he
had the mother's permission to spank him — and explained why he was
doing it — then he should not be reprimanded for it. I say he should be
praised for what he has done, and too bad more police officers don't
take this kind of personal interest in the public they are protecting.”
— Danita Swenson, Fairbanks, Ark.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I say BRAVO to him for taking it upon himself to care enough to
become involved! It is difficult enough to raise kids as a single parent
when they don't have additional challenges physically or mentally, but
100 times more difficult when they do. He is a positive force in this
boy's life and should be awarded...not suspended!!!!”
— Karen Rockwell, Everett
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“From excerpt of the law that the Seattle Times
published it is quite obvious that Officer Roberson's actions were
indeed lawful. He had obtained prior permission from the child's parent
to spank the 8 year old and should not have been reprimanded in any way
by the police department.”
— Kiara McCormick, Redmond
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Quite frankly I think that everyone along the way in this case has
missed the point. It would be more effective to look into the behaviors
of the boy's mother. She has had him labeled and medicated since he was
3? What she considers extreme disobedience may be no more than any other
normal child's desire to learn, move and breathe freely in a safe,
caring environment. This over-reactive, unable to cope with normal
childhood behavior, type of parenting has been documented many times
before. Always people assume that what the parent says is true. Wrong to
assume. There is a wonderful example of just this type of thing in a
documentary called ‘A Boy's Life’ where the boy was labeled as bad and
medicated due to his guardian but after the home lifestyle being filmed
over a period of two years it was proven that he was indeed ‘normal’ and
the guardian had mental abnormalities. We always take it out on the
kids. Sad society.”
— Jeri Fitzbuck, Issaquah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Sounds like the boy needs a lot more than a swat on the butt. The
only fault I might find of the officer is that he was in uniform. I grew
up in Renton where my father was a police officer and very familiar to
getting a few swats. I believe that every child reacts to different
forms of discipline and as a parent it is our responsibility to find the
most effective form, you can't just spank or beat every child. I myself
reacted to a spanking every once in a while when my older brother did
not. As a parent of a 10-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl I have never
raised a hand to my children in any form, I find that a corner or a time
out spot works great. It sounds like the mother needs some help and Mr.
Roberson stepped up and attempted to help he should not be punished, I
also think our society has become far to soft from the raising of our
children to the managing of employees. We live in a great county and
should not be so quick to punish the people that are trying to keep it
that way. Officer Richard Roberson should be rewarded not punished!”
— Todd Anthony, Camas, Wash.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“If the cop was off duty, not in uniform, given
permission from the parent, and acting as a big brother (etc), and it
was not with the intent to harm the child, just to show a little
discipline, then he should not have been suspended without pay for his
actions. The problem with today's society, parents literally can not
discipline their children the way they were disciplined growing up
without CPS getting involved for child abuse. There is a difference
between a spanking in conjunction with discipline vs. beating a child.
The officer was not in the wrong granted permission from the mother
considering the child has no male figure in his life (like a father).”
— Jamie C., Bellingham
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I feel if the officer had the mother's permission to
discipline/spank the child then so be it. The problem is whoever went
back to his (Mr. Roberson) superiors needs to mind their own business,
especially if the mother had no problem with it. Secondly that is the
problem with these children today, they need some old fashion
discipline.”
— Robin Jones, Seattle
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I feel that officer Roberson should be commended, not condemned or
punished for his actions. What he does on his own personal time and out
of uniform is none of Kerlikowski's business. The mother is in full
support of him and has agreed to have him act as a role figure to her
son with full authority to punish him while she is present. Our
community needs more adults like officer Roberson that are willing to
invest their time and energy into developing our fatherless and troubled
youth into citizens that will lead productive lives.”
— Doug Webb, Renton
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I think what this officer did was a good thing all the way around.
It shows he not only protects the community, but cares enough to
participate in it as well. He may of only been trying to help one child,
but maybe saving one potential hooligan or future gang member at a time
is what we need. As far the Chief's statements on the spankings, if more
people would stop relying on psychobabble and go back to old fashioned
parenting, handing out a spanking when needed, our kids might actually
realize we care about them and their future, not just our jobs and our
own problems for a change.”
— Barry Petersen, Kent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compiled by seattletimes.com
4 May 2004
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001918656_webspankingreactions03.html
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