12-year-old accused of pulling fire alarm charged with felony

[JJB531 652]

Unfortunately Crime Cop's interpretation of these kids is not that far off. I know that everyone finds it hard to believe that a 12 year old could be a "hardened criminal", or at least have the personality and the likes of one. But until you have dealt with some of these kids, you really have no idea. I understand that 12 is young, I understand 12 is pre-teen, I understand that 12 is still a baby, and so on. But a lot of these 12 year olds are just as street smart and street savvy as their 21 year old counterparts, and they have the mouth and the attitude to back it up.

Police Officers have a very jaded view of these kids, unfortunately that's just the way it is. When you have 12 year olds on a daily basis telling uniformed police officers to "F*ck off", literally, and try to tell you what you can and can't do to them, you become jaded and conditioned to expect that kind of a response. The youth are some of the most challenging to deal with, because we all know when you're young you think you're invincible, untouchable, you know everything, and so on. But I know growing up, despite how invincible I thought I was, I still had a respect for the police. The only figures these troubled kids respect are the drug dealers and rappers on TV. Unfortunately, until we can convince these rappers and drug dealers to teach kids manners, respect, etiquette, and the differences between right and wrong, you can be as "feel good" as you want to be with these kids, and they are merely going to see it as a sign of weakness and exploit it. Like I said, at 12 years old a lot of these kids can be extremely manipulative, and they will take advantage of you any chance they get.

When a police officer walks down the street and a little kid waves, and you have their parental figure grabbing these kids and yelling, "Don't wave to the police, they're not your friend", these kids are conditioned not to respect or trust any type of authority. When these kids see their parents, or parent in a lot of cases, acting like an animal, they are taught to believe that type of behavior is acceptable. When these kids see the drug dealers on the corner flashing money, driving nice cars, and mouthing off to the police and pretty much getting away with it, they are conditioned to accept and favor that type of lifestyle. Until you can completely remove these kids from that environment, most will not change and will grow up emulating the drug dealers, gangbangers, and will possess the same poor parental skills as their own parents, which then just gets passed on down to the next generation. Some of these kids are good kids who just get wrapped up in the wrong crowd, and still have a conscience, a respect for elders and authority, and a good understanding of the difference between right and wrong. These are the diamonds in the rough so to speak in these group homes. I'm not saying all kids who grow up in urban environments grow up to be criminals, but the ones who do possess these criminal traits from extremely young ages, even as young as 12.

So now law enforcement organizes Police Athletic Leagues, Explorer Programs, After School Programs, Community Outreach Programs, etc. to try to combat some of these problems. Do I think it should be our responsiblity? Eh, I honestly don't know. I think anytime you can improve police-community relations it's a win-win situation. If you can get one kid on the right track, then it's definitely is worth it. But for the average patrol cop, who may be answering 30 jobs a night, missing their meal break, and running from one job to the next, its simply not possible or feasible to change a kids life in the 10 minutes you interact with them. When you work the same area night after night, you start to know the players, and you start to know who the trouble kids are. I know personally I have tried to reach out to certain kids, invited them to stop by the precinct, offered them advice on how to change their lifestyle for the better, shown them alternatives to the "street life", informed them of programs that are available to help with job placement and education. You know how many took me up on my offers? ZERO. Not one. The simple fact is that these kids are surrounded in an environment full of negativity and negative influences, and every day they are conditioned to have no respect for authority, their parents, the school system, the court system, law enforcement, and so on.

I think I've rambled on enough, but my point it, and you can ask any Police Officer working in an urban area, is that eventhough these kids are "only 12 years old", these kids have mentality and the street toughness of a 21 year old. They are a challenge and are street wise well beyond their years, and treating them like a typical 12 year old is really not going to get you far. Unfortuantely the tactics you would normally use in dealing with a "typical 12 year old" more then likely will not work with these kids.

[JohnnyOV 2]

They should just have whoever does yet ANOTHER crime in the facility, to do several hours of community service. Where ever its needed, let them do it. The county doesn't need to do all of this because he pulled a wire. I keep over hearing other people saying "oh yeah and we were driving past lincoln hall and a guy from lincoln hall went right infront of me and into Angle Brook!" That sort of stuff should be a little more consequences, Yes, i know Somers responds into there, but having all of these calls, make it like 2444 only until on scene? Why have apparatus sign on to be turned around? I'm pretty sure they know it's not going to be a working fire. This probably won't happen but it would be smart.

For example: I heard a few days ago they got a call there for a (unknown) cottage having a Co2 alarm and a commercial fire alarm. The fire alarm got alot of apparatus on the road! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. MA-14. E-183 and a few others i think, both turned out negative findings. Somers should have lincoln hall on a watch, send 2444 out and let him see if its a pull or if its a fire. Then send out everything. Maybe have everyone stand by in their firehouse until further notice.

Pretty sure you mean CO alarm, and not CO2.... either way, how many of these kids are there because of arson? Every alarm is a possible fire, and should be treated as such. I cannot tell you how many res alarms we go to, where there was an actual stove fire occurring, but the homeowner said to slow it down because it was under control. Treat every run like it is the real deal, not the other way around. That sort of thinking with get you in trouble with liability.

[abaduck 123]

Thanks for the informative (if depressing) post, JJB531... I guess you've dealt with enough of these kids to have a handle on them.

I take your point about how tough it is to change anything about them on the streets. Which is why I still think, once you get them off the streets and into the justice system, that's a place someone might have a chance to turn them around.

Mike

[helicopper 1,050]

There are a number of Fire/EMS/PD based youth programs throughout the nation. One that involves adults, is in California. They use, and train, inmates on good behavior, to be "camp crews", meaning they assist with the manual taks of fighting wildland fires. When they get out, a lot of these ex-cons end up working for the federal government or CalFire as forest firefighters.

They also have inmate wildfire crews doing fire suppression not just "camp crews". It's actually remarkable to see and they work just as hard as their non-incarcerated counterparts (or else they wouldn't be on the crew).

Youth programs are a valuable tool but many of these kids cannot be trusted in a PD/FD/EMS environment even at 12. They need extremely close supervision and direction. Without that the problems will persist.

[JM15 386]

Just some additional information in the past few days there have been numerous escapes daily from Lincoln hall....

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

I have the pleasure of dealing with these future leaders of America on a daily basis! The crimes they commit are alot worse than just pulling fire alarms! Unfortunately the powers that be decide to take these kids out of their communities and put them in ours!

[38ff 250]

No one answered my original question. Does the PD issue tickets? Appearance tickets issued to the heads of facilities have a funny way of making places clean up their act with regards to accidental false alarms.

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

No one answered my original question. Does the PD issue tickets? Appearance tickets issued to the heads of facilities have a funny way of making places clean up their act with regards to accidental false alarms.

If we know who pulls it they are arrested! I have never heard of or given a ticket to the facilities!