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Disabled girl handcuffed by Sussex Police,

The girl was restrained with handcuffs, leg restraints and a mesh anti-spit hood . this girl has a nurological condition which means she can behave in a challenging manner. however should she be treated like that?? especially with the use of a spit-hood

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Being disabled doesn't mean you get special treatment by the police.

If you resist arrest you get handcuffed
If you continue you get leg restraints
If you spit you get anti-spit hood

Also source?
What neurological condition? If she's gonna thrash about and spit then yes, in my opinion, it's absolutely acceptable. In fact if her condition is going to make her harder to arrest then they're more justified to use those things. That's what they're are for.
(edited 7 years ago)
it shouldn't matter - if she was being arrested, there was a reason.
Original post by TSR Mustafa
If you happen to be a Palestinian , you get shot for bants


change the record
Reply 5
I feel like the term disabled is used too extensively nowadays. I feel like the term should be limited to individuals with Down's Syndrome, those in a wheelchair, blind/deaf people etc. The article didn't really go into the extent of her disability, it just mentioned "challenging behaviour", that to me isn't a disability, many children at that age can have a challenging behaviour regardless of a neurological condition or not, so that doesn't mean just because she's referred to as disabled that she should get a free pass. If your restraining arrest, spitting or being forceful I think she was rightly restrained by the police.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-36472234
On a number of occasions, officers did not record any rationale for their use of force on the youngster, who has "a neurological disability which can cause challenging behaviour", inspectors said.

she went 60 hrs without a mental health nurse to see her.
she is a child, she is being treated like an animal... she is only 11
Original post by Zargabaath
What neurological condition? If she's gonna thrash about and spit then yes, in my opinion, it's absolutely acceptable. In fact if her condition is going to make her harder to arrest then they're more justified to use those things. That's what they're are for.


Original post by TelAviv
Being disabled doesn't mean you get special treatment by the police.

If you resist arrest you get handcuffed
If you continue you get leg restraints
If you spit you get anti-spit hood

Also source?
Original post by TSR Mustafa
If you happen to be a Palestinian , you get shot for bants


Lmao, you derail topics to make it about muslims and then post agreement with threads complaining about the discussion of muslims :rofl:
Original post by BerniHurton
it shouldn't matter - if she was being arrested, there was a reason.


does it not matter that she is 11. she was treated like an animal. furthermore, police should have brought a MH (mental health) nurse with them
Original post by lascelles101
The girl was restrained with handcuffs, leg restraints and a mesh anti-spit hood . this girl has a nurological condition which means she can behave in a challenging manner. however should she be treated like that?? especially with the use of a spit-hood


Did she have a large neon sign above her head saying "DISABLED"?

Did the officers arriving to deal with her read her full medical history before arriving?
Totally appropriate.

What a ****ing stupid mother. Purely because it made her feel awful seeing her child in a spit hood that means they should be banned from use on children? What an over-emotive selfish, *****.

Police training takes long enough as it is. Police officers can't be expected to immediately know exactly what every mental disorder is and ho they ought to deal with someone concerning language and body contact in order to mitigate the problems of that disorder...

Yes it would be lovely if they could but that is not realistic. What is realistic is allowing them to detain for arrest someone who needs to be arrested but is thrashing around and spitting constantly using the correct tools to do so.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Betelgeuse-
Did she have a large neon sign above her head saying "DISABLED"?

Did the officers arriving to deal with her read her full medical history before arriving?


I like to think that in this day and age with the knowledge of things such as autism and ADHD that even the general public has, members of the police force wouldn't immediately think 'violent criminal, must be restrained' when they see an 11 year old child thrashing about. I'm guessing the 11 year old child couldn't overpower the police.

(I've grown up with an autistic sibling who could be challenging and physical, but I would imagine a police officer would be able to restrain her without the use of three separate restraining tools.)
Original post by Betelgeuse-
Did she have a large neon sign above her head saying "DISABLED"?

Did the officers arriving to deal with her read her full medical history before arriving?


the mother told officers she had a mental health condition.
Original post by lascelles101
does it not matter that she is 11. she was treated like an animal. furthermore, police should have brought a MH (mental health) nurse with them


I dont know anything about this story because the OP didnt even link a reporting but it sounds to me like she was treating the officers like an animal. I dont know to what extent this neurological condition effects her behaviour and it is likely the police cannot just summon a mental health nurse to go on patrols with them given how little resources are pushed that way

As for the spit hood.. it seems more than appropriate if the person needs subduing and responds by spitting
Original post by e hine e
I like to think that in this day and age with the knowledge of things such as autism and ADHD that even the general public has, members of the police force wouldn't immediately think 'violent criminal, must be restrained' when they see an 11 year old child thrashing about. I'm guessing the 11 year old child couldn't overpower the police.

(I've grown up with an autistic sibling who could be challenging and physical, but I would imagine a police officer would be able to restrain her without the use of three separate restraining tools.)


A spit hood is not a tool of restraint. It is, quite simply, to stop someone constantly spitting in your face while you are trying to move them somewhere.
Original post by e hine e
I like to think that in this day and age with the knowledge of things such as autism and ADHD that even the general public has, members of the police force wouldn't immediately think 'violent criminal, must be restrained' when they see an 11 year old child thrashing about. I'm guessing the 11 year old child couldn't overpower the police.

(I've grown up with an autistic sibling who could be challenging and physical, but I would imagine a police officer would be able to restrain her without the use of three separate restraining tools.)


Mate an 11 year old acting out is no proof that they have ADHD or Autism. I dont know enough about what happened to argue with your last point other than the spit hood... why does it matter if she has ADHD or Autism? The spithood is not some torture tool to punish him/her.. its to allow the officers to do their job without being assaulted
Original post by lascelles101
the mother told officers she had a mental health condition.


I dunno im too ignorant to the details
Original post by lascelles101
the mother told officers she had a mental health condition.


An undiagnosed mental condition. Also we have no way of knowing where on the spectrum she lies, it's entirely possible she is high functioning but a pain in the backside.

I think they have failed on the grounds of not providing sufficient support from adults certainly. They should have called mental health nurses if they suspected any sort of mental health problems, so this may be a failing also (although as noted, she was undiagnosed).

Regarding the restraints and force used, without more details I can't reach any conclusions. Ultimately if they need to restrain someone they need to.

It has been investigated and improvements/punishments made. I don't really see what else there is to do.
Original post by Betelgeuse-
Mate an 11 year old acting out is no proof that they have ADHD or Autism. I dont know enough about what happened to argue with your last point other than the spit hood... why does it matter if she has ADHD or Autism? The spithood is not some torture tool to punish him/her.. its to allow the officers to do their job without being assaulted


And you don't think a spithood could be traumatising for a child, especially when apparently she didn't have an appropriate adult with her while she was being held? And of course acting out isn't proof of ADHD or autism, but neither does it automatically point to a child being a criminal and being deserving of being treated and restrained that way an adult criminal would be treated. With modern knowledge of disabilities, my point was that the police shouldn't these days be automatically assuming the worst, especially where children are involved. This isn't the first time someone with a mental disability or neurological disorder has been unfairly treated by the police, and put into situations that could make them even worse with their symptoms and condition.

Also don't call me mate.
Original post by e hine e
And you don't think a spithood could be traumatising for a child, especially when apparently she didn't have an appropriate adult with her while she was being held? And of course acting out isn't proof of ADHD or autism, but neither does it automatically point to a child being a criminal and being deserving of being treated and restrained that way an adult criminal would be treated. With modern knowledge of disabilities, my point was that the police shouldn't these days be automatically assuming the worst, especially where children are involved. This isn't the first time someone with a mental disability or neurological disorder has been unfairly treated by the police, and put into situations that could make them even worse with their symptoms and condition.

Also don't call me mate.


Firstly, she was committing criminal offenses, lets not forget this. She was not arrested for being disabled.

How restrained you are once you are arrested depends on how you behave. Behaving violent and spitting is unacceptable and disgusting regardless of your age.

Likewise, we frankly have no idea how far on the autistic spectrum they are. To be frank, if they have made it to 11 without a diagnosis I am inclined to believe they must at least be relatively high functioning, as it becomes apparent from a very early age if they have severe autism.

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