Cops called when a kid talks about “brownies” at school… because racism!?

When a 9-year-old child started talking about the brownies being served during an end-of-the-year party at his New Jersey elementary school, it was considered racist by another student and the cops were called in to investigate.

This major overreaction was a result of new policies enacted at the school where any incident that could be considered criminal must be reported to police and that includes name-calling, according to the local chief.

The mother of the young boy, Stacy dos Santos, spoke to Philly.com and defended her son, saying he was certainly talking about “snacks, not skin color.”

“He said they were talking about brownies. Who exactly did he offend?” Santos rightly asked.

Amazingly, the boy’s father was also contacted and informed that the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency had been alerted. That’s a fact that’s hard to process.

And to think, local law enforcement, county prosecutors and school officials all came together and decided that this was the best kind of policy for William P. Tatem Elementary.

But it gets even more ridiculous: Since the rules have been in place, the calls to police from school officials have skyrocketed to nearly five per day in a single month and parents were never notified that the policy even existed.

There has been no clarifications to the story as to what was actually said, but Santos is so frustrated that she is looking for a new school to enroll her child in before the next school year:

“I’m not comfortable with the administration [at Tatem]. I don’t trust them and neither does my child. He was intimidated, obviously. There was a police officer with a gun in the holster talking to my son, saying, ‘Tell me what you said.’ He didn’t have anybody on his side.”

Other parents from the school district have been commenting on the absurdity of this policy, as well. One said, “What’s next? Are we going to have to send kids to school with a lawyer’s name and number?”

Since this story broke, the Collingswood public school system has been receiving a lot of flack for the “always call the police” policy. Now, Mayor James Maley has announced that the policy is reversed:

“It’s resolved. Fixed, finished, done.”

Now, only truly criminal actions will require a call to 911. Everyone else, you may resume calling the delicious snack “brownies.”