Are police stations the new principal's office?

Kiera Wilmot faced jail time for creating a bottle bomb at school. She was arrested a couple of weeks ago and suspended from school.

We made bottle bombs in Chemistry class in tenth grade. One rolled under a bus and one of the soccer players in my class ran, slid and kicked it away before it exploded.  LOL

Wilmot was recently released under a diversionary program and attends an alternative school. The charges against her were dropped. 

What happened to calling parents and just sending kids to the principal's office? 

I understand the school having a zero tolerance policy, but dang! I will say this...in fifth grade I reacted to being annoyed by a classmate in a way that would have had me locked up today.

Instead of my teacher calling the police, she asked what happened and corrected us both. It never happened again and I kept my nose clean lol.

I still talk to that teacher via Facebook.  I definitely understood my actions have consequences and understood that she cared about us. She also imparted some wisdom in telling us that just because you feel like doing something, does not mean you should do it.

Have we come to a place  where teachers cannot check students without police intervention? If that is where we are, it is a sad existence. How do we correct that?