By Jono Hutchinson
There is a call for the government to clarify exactly when schools can suspend their students after police launched an investigation into internet fight videos.
Last night 3 News revealed around a hundred violent videos had been uploaded to YouTube on New Year’s Eve.
The Principals' Association says schools need to know whether and how they should get involved.
In one of the video clips, onlookers can be heard begging the attacker to stop.
The Secondary Principals' Association says sometimes schools feel powerless to act as well.
“Clearly this sort of behaviour, if it happened inside the school, could amount to gross misconduct, for which they could be suspended and excluded,” says a Principals' Association spokesman.
But the Association says the law is unclear about what schools can do when fights happen outside of school property and hours, so they often have to get legal advice before suspending anyone.
“It's something that we would like some certainty around the law, so that when we take action, we're not going to be undermined by having a decision overturned by the Ombudsmen or by the courts.”
Police say some of these clips, uploaded on New Year's Eve by a single YouTube user, may be old but others could be evidence of recent crimes.
After 3 News reported on the videos last night, YouTube suspended the user's account. But before the clips were removed, the police made backup copies so that the incidents could be investigated.
Herman Sakaria runs a security firm, and a martial arts training centre north of Auckland.
“We get a lot of battered kids that might have been on YouTube or Facebook. They come here and I help them out. We teach them more of a restraint,” says Mr Sakaria.
He says the presence of video phones amps up the pressure to fight.
“Nowadays you've got a bit of an audience, you've got like maybe 50 kids there with their phones out, so there's a lot of pressure for these kids to turn up to the fights. If they don't turn up to the fights, they're going to get bullied even more.”
The Principals' Association says videos like these are a growing problem.
These clips are gone from the internet, at least for now, but while there are fights and phones, the issue is not.
3 News