But Brown says it was for their own good. He said he only got out his ticket book after children ignored repeated warnings to get back on the sidewalk.
"The sidewalks are small. The schools are big. You've got to keep the kids moving.
"We're just trying to keep everyone safe," he said. "And it's not easy.
"If you have a large group of kids, how do you get them to listen? Their parents are against you. We get the finger from little 10-year-old kids."
What are the benefits?
Black parents, too, are caught in the same ambivalence - aware of how difficult it can be to control groups of children, worried that police might push too hard.
Lynette Halstead, Symira's grandmother, keeps a Bible open in a basket on the bathroom windowsill. She's raised the sixth grader since she was 5, and wants her to learn how to respect authority.
But she says it's not surprising her granddaughter mistrusts the Upper Darby police.
There are plenty of children who cause trouble, she said, but "not all kids are like that. The ones who are trying to be good, by going after them for every little thing, you actually push them in the other direction."
By treating little girls so harshly, she said, the police are putting families like hers in a difficult position.
"How is this benefiting society?" asked Halstead. "We're making them criminals."
Contact staff writer Mark Fazlollah at 215-854-5831 or mfazlollah@phillynews.com.
