A 7-year-old schoolboy burst into tears when two police vehicles were dispatched to his house after teachers mistook a brass piece he took to school as a bullet. The staff at the St Edward’s Catholic Primary School in Birmingham called the police after a student told teachers about the boy’s claim that the brass cylinder was a “bullet” for a rifle.
The seven-year old’s mother refused permission for the officers the interview her son. She accused them of “racial profiling” and that they would react differently “had my son been a white kid.” the primary school has apologised to the family, insisting the boy’s ethnicity had no part in their response who said they were duty bound to report to the police. This incident highlights the challenge faced by the school to balance common sense with their statutory duty to protect students from radicalisation and extremism.
The mother, an academic for a West Midlands university, who asked not to be named, accused the school of overreacting “I don't think the school would have escalated it if we were not Muslim. It was almost as though we needed to prove our innocence rather than they would need to prove that they had a reasonable basis for questioning us or proving guilt” she said. She is also angry that the school didn't notify her that they had called the police and the first time she knew was went officers showed up at the residence.
West Midlands police confirmed officers were sent to the family’s residence after “the school reported a pupil had brought a bullet into the class. The item was examined and found not to be a bullet and no further action was taken.”
This incident is similar to one in March where a Luton based nursery referred a four-year-old boy to a de-radicalisation programme after the boy drew a picture of a man cutting a cucumber with a knife. Nurses staff then misheard the boy pronouncing cucumber as “cooker bomb”. The incident was referred to the police and social services who decided not to take action.
