Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A bullying ordinance passed by the city of Shawano in April caught national and even international attention, spurring debate that continues to pop up on editorial pages eight months later.
The ordinance, which threatens possible fines against parents whose children engage in habitual bullying or harassment, has yet to be used, according to Shawano Police Chief Mark Kohl.
“I think it’s been a huge success,” Kohl said during an update to the Shawano Common Council on Wednesday.
“It created that invitation to the community, primarily to parents, to get more involved in the actions and behaviors of their children,” he said.
Kohl said media coverage, which, he said, has included reports in newspapers as far away as Canada, Australia and Switzerland, helped draw attention to the problem of bullying.
“Bullying has been an issue for everyone,” he said. “I suspect we’ve all been bullied, or maybe we were a bully at one time.”
Kohl said police have worked with parents to address incidents of bullying, but no citations have been issued.
Having the ordinance on the books, he said, has opened up communications on the bullying problem between parents, the police and the school district.
“The sign of a good community philosophy, a good community-oriented program, isn’t to show an increase in arrests and tickets and things like that,” Kohl said. “It’s to show a decrease in those reported types of crimes or violations.”
Though Shawano’s ordinance drew widespread attention, it was modeled after a bullying ordinance already on the books in the village of Plover.
Shawano’s ordinance calls for a fine of $366 for the first offense and $681 for the second offense for parents who are aware of and allow their children to engage in bullying or harassment.
The fine would only apply, however, if the parent had already been informed by police within the previous 90 days that their child had been engaging in bullying or harassment.
If any fines are ever assessed under the ordinance, the money will go into a bullying awareness fund for educational outreach on the issue, as per a separate resolution adopted by the Common Council in May.