Gladiator
09-01-2006, 11:55 PM
A good alternative to arrests
A Times Editorial
Published September 1, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the St. Petersburg Police Department's standard operating procedures in black neighborhoods has been to slap the cuffs on young people suspected of having committed crimes.
This summer, however, Chief Chuck Harmon and a team of officers tried a different way of dealing with youth-related crime: Instead of automatically arresting every suspect, the police referred many youngsters to social service organizations for treatment and other help.
"We thought it would be a good opportunity for us to engage with the youth," Harmon told the St. Petersburg Times, pointing out that the new Operation Summer Safe initiative made 226 referrals in which arrests would have been made in the past.
Such referrals are good news because many of the cases involved substance abuse problems, some of them minor, that professionals can help with if not solve. Pinellas County Urban League head Herman Lessard, who deals with troubled teenagers each day, said that many run-ins with the police do not need to result in arrests, as Operation Summer Safe demonstrated.
With this kind of first-time success, Harmon and his team should find a way to make this effort permanent and year-round.
And there you have it. A perfect example of what is wrong in St. Petersburg. I'm sorry but I don't by off on the THERE POOR LITTLE MISGUIDED YOUTH theory. If they're out there selling or using drugs then they need to be arrested. Put in handcuffs and taken to JDC. That's right JDC not the piss poor excuse that they call JAC. I was scared to death to go to JDC and in turn didn't commit crimes. If they truly do need some treatment or rehabilitation, then they can get it there.
The give em a break and not hold them in excess of 21 days kinder gentler approach is the primary reason we have so much juvenile crime. If Little Johnny wants to steal a car.....handcuffs, if Little Johnny wants to burglarize your house...handcuffs, if Little Johnny wants to smoke and sell dope....handcuffsm, and if Little Johnny wants to throw rocks and bottles at the police....handcuffs. Any other way is reinforcing that there is no punishment for your actions and further reenforces that crime does pay.
A Times Editorial
Published September 1, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the St. Petersburg Police Department's standard operating procedures in black neighborhoods has been to slap the cuffs on young people suspected of having committed crimes.
This summer, however, Chief Chuck Harmon and a team of officers tried a different way of dealing with youth-related crime: Instead of automatically arresting every suspect, the police referred many youngsters to social service organizations for treatment and other help.
"We thought it would be a good opportunity for us to engage with the youth," Harmon told the St. Petersburg Times, pointing out that the new Operation Summer Safe initiative made 226 referrals in which arrests would have been made in the past.
Such referrals are good news because many of the cases involved substance abuse problems, some of them minor, that professionals can help with if not solve. Pinellas County Urban League head Herman Lessard, who deals with troubled teenagers each day, said that many run-ins with the police do not need to result in arrests, as Operation Summer Safe demonstrated.
With this kind of first-time success, Harmon and his team should find a way to make this effort permanent and year-round.
And there you have it. A perfect example of what is wrong in St. Petersburg. I'm sorry but I don't by off on the THERE POOR LITTLE MISGUIDED YOUTH theory. If they're out there selling or using drugs then they need to be arrested. Put in handcuffs and taken to JDC. That's right JDC not the piss poor excuse that they call JAC. I was scared to death to go to JDC and in turn didn't commit crimes. If they truly do need some treatment or rehabilitation, then they can get it there.
The give em a break and not hold them in excess of 21 days kinder gentler approach is the primary reason we have so much juvenile crime. If Little Johnny wants to steal a car.....handcuffs, if Little Johnny wants to burglarize your house...handcuffs, if Little Johnny wants to smoke and sell dope....handcuffsm, and if Little Johnny wants to throw rocks and bottles at the police....handcuffs. Any other way is reinforcing that there is no punishment for your actions and further reenforces that crime does pay.