Pa. Police Chief Shares Bullying Experience

March 09--No one is immune to bullying, not even the man who leads the city's police department.

Reading Police Chief William M. Heim told an auditorium full of students at Northeast Middle School on Friday afternoon that he was a shy kid who had trouble making a lot of friends, which made him a prime target for bullies.

And as a ninth-grader in North Philadelphia, he said, he even faced physical bullying, getting beat up and robbed on his way to school.

It was something he'll never forget, and something he said he hopes others don't have to experience.

That's why Heim spoke to the students at Northeast, trying to express just how serious bullying can be.

"We're not talking about something minor here when we're talking about bullying," he said.

Heim said bullying can take many forms, from making fun of or excluding someone to actual physical violence. Usually, he added, bullies pick on someone they see as "different" in order to make themselves feel superior.

"They feel good when they make someone else feel bad, and that's not good," he said, adding that everyone is different in one way or another.

Heim challenged the students to be leaders and to help battle bullying when they see it.

He said something as simple as telling a bully "that's not funny" or to "stop it" is often enough to intervene. If that doesn't work, he said, they need to tell an adult about what's going on.

And if you're a bully yourself, he said, you really need to stop and think about what you're doing.

"You should consider how you would feel being treated that way," said.

Citing a 12-year-old from Delaware County who recently died after being beaten up at school, he said bullying can have major consequences for the victim and the bully. He said bullies could be prosecuted for things like harassment and assault, and kids who bully other kids could find themselves locked up in a juvenile detention center.

"It is serious business," he said. "Lives have been ruined."

Contact David Mekeel: 610-371-5014 or [email protected].

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