An AP investigation has unmasked that African American children as young as 6 have been treated brutally by US officers of the law, stressing that Chicago police, as well as departments nationwide, have few safeguards to thwart such incidents.

The Associated Press examined data on approximately 3,000 instances of police use of force against children under the age of 16 over the previous 11 years. Accountable Now, a project of The Leadership Conference Education Fund aimed at creating a comprehensive use-of-force database, provided AP with the data.

Despite accounting for only 15% of the child population in the US, black children made up more than half of those who were forcibly handled. Police frequently mistake them and other minority children for being of older age. 

Takedowns, strikes, and muscling were the most common types of force, followed by firearms pointed at or used on children. Other tactics, such as the use of pepper spray or police K-9s, were also used on children. 

They have also been handcuffed, felled by stun guns, taken down, and pinned to the ground by officers often far larger than they were, according to the investigation.

The case of Royal Smart

“I can’t go to sleep; I keep thinking about the police coming.”

That is what Royal Smart told AP. Smart is an African American child who was 8 years old during a police raid.

Smart was exposed to a wide range of police force two years ago when his family’s home on Chicago’s South Side was raided.

 “Royal Smart remembers every detail: the feeling of the handcuffs on his wrists. The panic as he was led outside into the cold March darkness, arms raised, to face a wall of police officers pointing their guns”.

After George Floyd died at the hands of police in 2020, a raging debacle erupted over the disproportionate use of force by law enforcement, particularly against African Americans.