All Teenagers Aren’t Always Gang Members
On Aug. 19, I found myself in Lincoln Park with three good friends, drinking beers and talking about going back to school. At about 7 p.m., six cop cars, eight of “Spokane’s Finest,” and two of their dogs decided to say hello.
We were chased into the hills, where I got tackled, had a gun pointed at my head and was advised not to move or I’d be shot. “Well,” I thought, “the city’s policy on alcohol in public places got a helluva lot more strict.”
Later, after being dragged to the cop cars and told what a worthless piece of crap I was by a lovely and polite female officer (I might add that this was one of the more gentle and heartfelt things she said during my unofficial interrogation), I was informed that a concerned citizen had phoned the police to alert them of our presence in the park.
In a delusional, paranoid fit, someone called the police to report that four gang members with guns and beer were seen getting out of their car and going to the park. The truth be known, four guys who looked more like beach volleyball players wearing Birkenstocks and sunglasses got out of the car, they had beer that nobody saw (because it was in my backpack), and the gun seen by that “concerned citizen” never existed.
In essence, a person so delusional with media hype and irrational fear decided to take the law into their own hands and lie.
Having had time to think about it (a few months now), I still feel my crime was far less severe than the person who picked up the phone that night.
Fearing and distrusting someone because of their age or looks happens far too often in our cozy little community. When it comes to the point of seeing more than two kids and screaming “GANG!” something has gone severely wrong.
Adults with no connections and few experiences with today’s kids are first to harbor fear and prejudices for people they know nothing about.
The need to curb these supposed “dangerous activities” that our community sees have brought forth the idea of our new in-school police officers.
At Ferris, as well as other area schools, a full-time security officer has been assigned to monitor student behavior, and in some cases, to be a gun-toting voice of reason in times of chaos.
“We believe that this community expects school-age children to be in school. … We can’t educate school-age children it they aren’t in regular attendance,” said Superintendent Gary Livingston.
As an alternative approach to regular attendance problems, the city and schools have adopted a truancy policy where, if the student is caught “not attending his or her classes,” they will be detained by Spokane police officers and taken to the Truancy Center, resulting “in less juvenile loitering and crime during school hours. It’s a ‘win-win’ situation.” This from Police Chief Terry Mangen.
Does this standpoint seem just a little harsh to anyone else?
Did anyone take into the account the thousands of kids, from potential drop-outs to honor students, who occasionally get overwhelmed or tired or bored?
There is a huge majority of students who sometimes need a release. They are not criminals or hoodlums as the new program’s guidelines might lead you to believe.
For the most part they are kids who just need a break, students who have been entrusted with their own freedoms.
Now because of the actions of a small few and the paranoia of select political figures, their freedoms are being taken away.
Perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at our community and how it’s raising its next generation.
Personally, I feel an urgent need to examine our current policies and policy makers. Recent actions by these policy makers, as well as the community at large, have demonstrated just how out of touch we’ve become and how little our voice is heard.
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