Teenagers today are more mischievous, curious, violent and, down right disrespectful as opposed to a couple of years ago. The streets seem to unravel and unleash the demons in even the most timid quiet types. Some teenagers feel the need to commit crimes or inflict bodily harm on innocent people just to earn a name and place for themselves on the street. Some of those crimes include but, are not limited to chain snatching, pick pocketing, burglary, robbery, graffiti and, murder. Then there are the actual innocent teenagers who get caught up in the mix from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In my opinion, it should be mandatory for the police to contact a child's parent or guardian before slapping the cuffs on and, arresting them.
I've personally seen too many children under the age of sixteen being carted off without the parents being aware of the situation or being notified. In those cases, it just so happened that neighbors where present and, they were kind enough and, had the decency to contact the parent/parents. But, not all teenagers are lucky enough to have neighbors who recognize them. Those are the ones who will be taken to the police station scared and alone. Sometimes the teenagers have already been taken to the precinct before the parents were even aware of the situation. Of course, some of the incidents involved teenagers actually doing things they shouldn't have been doing. Then, there were times when the teenagers just happened to be passing through a situation in progress or the aftermath then, the police come and round up the whole lot, innocent included.
That's why, I feel the police should attempt to contact the parent or guardian in front of the child before arresting them especially, non-violent teens. Unless, there's a crime in progress or there is concrete evidence that the teenager is guilty.
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