It happened again. Fights break out in downtown Greenville. (legal, shop)

[gvsteve]

Teens face downtown curfew | GreenvilleOnline.com | The Greenville News


Today's Greenville News had an article saying that the crowds of teenagers had . . .

formed a line in the street and pounded on cars that were unable to move, Wilfong said.

While this kind of thing makes it clear that something serious needs to be done, I just don't understand how a curfew will help.

First, what will stop the same thing from happening at 9:00?

Second, the city has previously imposed a curfew in the park to keep the kids out - so they moved onto Main Street by all the businesses. Imposing a curfew on Main Street will just move the groups of kids somewhere else.

I'm no expert on law enforcement but it sounds to me like the solution should be more police officers, and a few example arrests of people who don't disperse when told to do so.

[Woodlands]

Damn... is the crowd that large every weekend even during the school year?? What the draw..just a teen pick up spot? My first impression was some type of teen club must be somewhere in the mix... but again downtown G'ville must have something for everyone

[MT Man]

Originally Posted by gvsteve

Teens face downtown curfew | GreenvilleOnline.com | The Greenville News


Today's Greenville News had an article saying that the crowds of teenagers had . . .




While this kind of thing makes it clear that something serious needs to be done, I just don't understand how a curfew will help.

First, what will stop the same thing from happening at 9:00?

Second, the city has previously imposed a curfew in the park to keep the kids out - so they moved onto Main Street by all the businesses. Imposing a curfew on Main Street will just move the groups of kids somewhere else.

I'm no expert on law enforcement but it sounds to me like the solution should be more police officers, and a few example arrests of people who don't disperse when told to do so.

1. They can deal with the time issue, should it become an issue. All of this news may help parents realize that they can't just drop their kids off downtown to congregate with hundreds of other kids.

2. Someplace else is better than detering people from enjoying the multi million dollar downtown and spending their money at the downtown businesses.

3. The cops cannot be expected to babysit hundreds of kids in a group every single weekend. It would cost us a fortune to have enough cops to control that many people every weekend. But I do agree, if they were harassing people and damaging property (pushing on cars etc.) they should have absolutely started arresting people! The G'ville PD failed in that regard.

Something that is missing is the safety of the kids and not necessarily the people they are harrassing. If one of those kids gets too big for his undeveloped brain and touches a passerby, he could get himself hurt or killed in a hurry. It sounds like some of those kids have pretty big attitudes to be pushing on people's cars etc... If someone felt that their safety or lives were in danger, they have rights too.....

[Skyliner]

Originally Posted by gvsteve

...I just don't understand how a curfew will help.

A curfew is helpful because it establishes an enforceable law against such incidents. Last week no such law existed and these children were allowed to roam the streets unattended. In my opinion, nobody under the age of 16 should be allowed to wander anywhere without responsible adult supervision.

The revitalization of downtown Greenville was intended to create a special place for families, artists, and business professionals. The city does not want downtown to be a place for selfish parents to drop off their kids. While there are many ways to have fun here, it is not a theme park for unattended children.

[dlk33]

Hold the parents responsible, the parents are the ones dropping the kids off, basically giving them permission to do whatever they want on their own. It comes down to parents not taking responsibility for their own children. Teens don't have the mental ability to correctly think for themselves, that's what parents are for. A curfew is a starting point, but that curfew needs to be inforced & the repercussions of not following it have to be paid for it to have a chance to be successful. Parents need to take back their role of parenting, instead of giving that role to their children.

[gvsteve]

Originally Posted by Skyliner

A curfew is helpful because it establishes an enforceable law against such incidents. Last week no such law existed and these children were allowed to roam the streets unattended.

Police all over the country routinely make arrests in such situations under the charge "disorderly conduct." All they have to do is yell at the crowd to leave immediately, and whoever doesn't leave can be immediately arrested for disorderly conduct. Fighting is an additional assault charge, blocking traffic is against the law, and beating on somebody's car is both a property crime and disorderly conduct.

Police already had all the justification necessary to arrest people for the above charges. But I'm no expert - please correct me if I'm wrong.

[staywarm2]

Bravo -- A Good Solution

From Greenville ON-line:

"Latch Key, Inc., CEO Michael Burton said he supported the curfew. His group is trying to open alternative youth hang-outs in now-empty buildings on Laurens Road, he said.
"
'“We need to put some programs together to give these kids something to do on the weekends,” Burton said.'

[NoodlesKnowles]

Originally Posted by gvsteve

Police all over the country routinely make arrests in such situations under the charge "disorderly conduct." All they have to do is yell at the crowd to leave immediately, and whoever doesn't leave can be immediately arrested for disorderly conduct. Fighting is an additional assault charge, blocking traffic is against the law, and beating on somebody's car is both a property crime and disorderly conduct.

Police already had all the justification necessary to arrest people for the above charges. But I'm no expert - please correct me if I'm wrong.

I think the problem is that there is nobody to say who is doing it by the time the police arrive, I think the police were looking to make arrests this past weekend but by the time they were informed it was already too late. The curfew would make it impossible for that to happen, because the crowds of young teens wouldn't be there in the first place. if you have a better idea I am interested to hear it, seriously

Originally Posted by staywarm2

Bravo -- A Good Solution

From Greenville ON-line:

"Latch Key, Inc., CEO Michael Burton said he supported the curfew. His group is trying to open alternative youth hang-outs in now-empty buildings on Laurens Road, he said.
"
'“We need to put some programs together to give these kids something to do on the weekends,” Burton said.'

I've seen this before too, teen centers, teen dances, this just brought the crime wherever these places were. honestly the real problem here is PARENTING. and its not just in greenville sc, its all over the country. Apparently we've decided that technology and schools should do all our parenting for us and we can blame it all on that when anything goes wrong.

[dlk33]

Originally Posted by NoodlesKnowles

I think the problem is that there is nobody to say who is doing it by the time the police arrive, I think the police were looking to make arrests this past weekend but by the time they were informed it was already too late. The curfew would make it impossible for that to happen, because the crowds of young teens wouldn't be there in the first place. if you have a better idea I am interested to hear it, seriously



I've seen this before too, teen centers, teen dances, this just brought the crime wherever these places were. honestly the real problem here is PARENTING. and its not just in greenville sc, its all over the country. Apparently we've decided that technology and schools should do all our parenting for us and we can blame it all on that when anything goes wrong.

So how do we convince the bad parents to start doing a better job of parenting

[Skyliner]

Originally Posted by dlk33

So how do we convince the bad parents to start doing a better job of parenting

That's a tough question to answer. I'd be willing to bet that most of these bad parents are lazy and only interested in free handouts, making it difficult to reach them intellectually. In many cases there may be a cultural indoctrination, for decades encouraged by bad government and social climate change. How can we effectively reverse what has become culturally acceptable behavior? While I believe parents ultimately carry the burden of responsibility, sadly many children are never taught responsibility and are allowed to carelessly do whatever they desire without any thought of consequence.