Issac and Osman

‘It seems to be the policy of the police to, in all occasions, come in “gung ho, guns blazing” and escalate the situation – when in reality, the best way to handle a child with a mental disability in an aggravated state is most often via a calm and compassionate approach.’

Issac is 13 and has mild intellectual disability, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and encopresis.

He lives in a regional area with his father Osman and attends a special school.

Osman told the Royal Commission Issac has experienced violence and abuse by staff at school and by the police.

One time Issac had red marks on his face and told Osman a teacher had scratched him.

‘This scratch was hard enough to leave noticeable red welts, and I suspect occurred when the teacher was trying to catch him as he was running,’ Osman said.

However the school told Osman that Issac ‘scratched his face on the school gate’.

This seemed implausible to Osman but the school principal continued to deny a staff member or the school was at fault.

Osman said this was just one example of the school’s inability to ‘de-escalate situations with children with disability when they become aggravated’.

‘Almost every second day [Issac] gets sent home from school for various incidents that could have been prevented with proper training, such as the breaking of windows. [He] has never broken any windows at home.’

The police are often called to the school.

When Issac was 10, the police arrived at school to deal with another student. Issac ‘was trying to stick up for this other student’ when police threatened to pepper spray him.

Another time ‘the situation resulted in a female police officer grabbing [Issac] by the arm and throwing him to the ground hard enough to fully knock the wind out of him’. Osman wasn’t told why the police were there but said ‘there is no situation in which such violent measures are appropriate to be used against a young child’.

A third and more traumatic incident occurred when Issac was 12. Police were dealing with another student when Issac grabbed a pair of scissors and threatened one of the officers.

The police put Issac in handcuffs, threw him in the back of their van and took him to the police station ‘without any accompaniment by a teacher or other staff member of the school’.

Osman said the response was ‘completely disproportionate’ and the school did not intervene.

‘When I arrived to pick Issac up, I found him crying and frightened, with red marks around his wrists due to the handcuffs having been put on too tight … Ever since this incident, [Issac] has been too afraid to return to school.’

Osman has requested a full investigation of the incident and wants to see body-cam or other footage.

But he has been denied access to any footage that may exist and been told the incident is being investigated internally. He believes an open, transparent, independent investigation is needed.

Regional schools need to be better funded to hire and train staff to ‘properly handle children with disability and … de-escalate situations rather than immediately turn to law enforcement,’ Osman told us.

Psychiatrists or psychologists on staff should be the first point of call when a child’s behaviour is escalating, not the police.

If police are called, it should be a last resort and they need to be trained to deal with children in these situations.

Ultimately, he would like ‘the general attitude and culture of the police force to be more understanding, kind and peaceful towards people with disabilities, particularly children’.

‘Specialist schools should be places of understanding and education for children with mental or intellectual disabilities … and the police force should be figures that all citizens (especially vulnerable children) can look to as a symbol of protection.’