POLICE ASSOCIATION OF NOVA SCOTIA 145 Halifax police are reminding kids who are being bullied that they can call the 24-hour Bully Hotline for help. The hotline, which 20-year veteran Const. Ian Burke started 2 1/2 years ago, has received about 1,500 calls from kids ages four to eighteen. Parents, teachers and concerned citizens have called to report bullies, too. “It gives kids an opportunity to discuss violent situations that they might not normally report because they can do it anonymously,” Burke said. Halifax Regional Police are investigating allegations that Emmet Fralick, a 14-year-old St. Agnes junior high school student, committed suicide (this month) because he was being bullied by classmates. Since then, police have put the number for the hotline on the homepage of their Web site, www.police.halifax.ns.ca “It was always on the Internet sight, but in light of recent events, we did want to make sure that it was highlighted,” said police spokesman Sgt. Don Spicer. Burke said he thought of starting the hotline after he talked to a teacher who said a couple of kids had transferred out of their school because they were being bullied and were victims of extortion. He knew some young people would be reluctant to call police for fear the bully would find out, so he offers callers complete confidentiality. “A lot of times, they don’t want to call police for fear they’ll be investigated,” he said. “They might just want to talk to us personally and find out some stuff and not have us involved yet. It’s totally a youth-initiated call — that’s what we want. Even if the parent wants us to do something, we always talk to the child first. Bullies themselves might want to call the hotline for advice on how to stop,” he said. “Most bullies have been victims themselves at some point. Whether they see it in their home, in the community, somebody was bullying them and they know how it felt to have that power exerted over them. I tell them what the outlook is for bullies, quoting a statistic that 60 per cent of all identified bullies end up with a criminal record by age 24.” Officers will go to a school and give one-on-one mediation, family group conferencing or talk to a class. “There are lots of things we can do, but it’s up to them what they want us to do,” Burke said. Callers have complained of everything from teasing to sexual assault. But when the complaint crosses the line and entered the criminal element, they encourage the caller to file a complaint with the police department. Burke has personal experience with schoolyard torment. He has kids of his own who were bullied, and he was teased as a child. “There are not many kids that haven’t been bullied or been a bully going through school. If you don’t talk about it, the situation can only get worse," he said. The anti-bullying hotline can be reached at 490-SAVE (7283). By BETH JOHNSTON The Daily News © Copyright 2002 The Daily News Bully hotline lets kids call police anonymously!
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