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Wednesday, August 27, 2003 Former policeman calls bullying a ‘dangerous game’By PATRICK WRIGHT PALM COAST — Parents need to pay attention if their child is angry, confused or depressed, a former police officer with New Jersey’s juvenile division says. They could be victims of a bully. “Kids think it is a play thing to bully and harass,” said Jerome Hamlin, special projects director for New Jersey’s Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. “It’s a dangerous game.” Hamlin, 64, worked with juveniles for 21 years as a police officer in Long Branch, N.J. He has spent the last 40 years educating parents, children and community members on the dangers of bullying. He spoke with about 400 eighth-graders at Buddy Taylor Middle School on Monday morning to help them understand a bully is more than a pupil who offends people with words or contact. “A bully gets satisfaction from inflicting injury and suffering on others,” Hamlin said. “They are inadequate people who can’t interact in a mature manner.” Hamlin’s presentation is one of many activities planned in the Flagler County School District this year concerning bullying. The University of North Florida last year conducted a survey of bullying in Flagler County as part of a grant to provide the county with drug and violence education. The survey said 32 percent of Flagler County students ages 11 to 15 said they had bullied a fellow student and 13 percent said they were doing it at the time of the survey. Another 40 percent said they have told someone about the bullying, but many said they felt little would be done to help them. District officials said there has always been a focus on bullying, but community members have paid more attention to it after the Sheriefe Williams case. Williams, 12, was expelled from Indian Trails K-8 Center in March after school officials caught him with a butterfly knife. He said he brought the knife to scare a bully into leaving him alone. Williams’ mother, April, said she had told Indian Trails officials about the bullying, but nothing was done. Calvin Edghill, Flagler County’s NAACP president, said Williams’ case is too common. He said other forms of bullying, such as taunting, are greater problems for black students, such as Williams, than white ones. “Other kids believe that children who aspire to do well in school are ‘acting white,’” Edghill said. “Our kids aren’t learning (like they could).” Kimariah Heyward, 12, from Palm Coast has experienced bullying and said many children don’t speak up for fear of making a bad problem worse. “It’s good to talk about, but you could get bullied even more,” Heyward said. Hamlin said listening to your child could keep a minor issue from becoming a more serious incident or tragedy. He felt the talk was a good start. |
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