Police in Middle Georgia are defending their decision to handcuff a six year old elementary school student. Milledgeville police say the girl was handcuffed for her own safety.

Police were called to Creekside Elementary last week because the girl was allegedly tearing things off walls and tipping over furniture.

Former school psychologist Pete Ross trains teachers in discipline techniques at Mercer’s Tift College of Education. He says research shows defiant kids behave better with positive reinforcement, not handcuffing.

“That’s really bizarre. That’s again kind of instituting a police state of sorts into a classroom. I’ve never seen that in my 20 years of working with the defiant population of kids.”

Ross says many teachers have little training when it comes to classroom management and effective discipline techniques. The student in the case is suspended until August.

Tags: Milledgeville Police, Creekside Elementary, student discipline, Dr. Pete Ross, Mercer University Tift College of Education