Yep just go easy on them... They'll come around... come around and rob you or worse that is... We obviously need morth youth facilities and outreach in this depressed are of Beemers and Mercedes... sigh,,
thestar.com
Youth arrests surge in 905
Stats up as police target teen crime
Second chances, but only for some
Oct. 30, 2006. 06:46 AM
NAOMI CARNIOL
STAFF REPORTER
Youths in the 905 regions around Toronto are being arrested by police in record numbers for drug crimes, assaults and weapons offences.
They are being arrested, cautioned or referred to crime prevention programs at a rate never seen before, according to a Toronto Star analysis of 15 years of crime data.
Police say this is because they are doing a better job targeting youth involved in crime.
While the city of Toronto has a similar trend, the increases in the 905 regions are more dramatic.
But what's lacking, the Star found, is a comprehensive approach to the relatively new concept of "pre-charge diversion" — getting kids to clean up their act through community service and/or fines, as opposed to a criminal record. These programs also try to figure out why a youth committed the crime in the first place.
Toronto and some 905 regions lack funding for what some experts agree is a successful concept that's often more appropriate for teens than a detention centre. Detectives interviewed by the Star say it deters teens from re-offending.
"(Jail) is almost like a finishing school," says Det. Const. Garry Vosburg, a York Region police youth co-ordinator.
"You're putting them in an environment surrounded by criminals, so what do they learn?"
Halton Region has the longest running pre-charge diversion program.
York Region's program was recently restarted after lack of funding forced a one-year hiatus.
Durham Region's funding is shaky. Peel is trying to start a program, and Toronto's city-wide program funding dried up in 2004.
"We'd really cut down on crime if we had this organized," says Staff Sgt. Dave Saunders of the Toronto police youth services division.
The Star's analysis shows the youth-to-adult ratio of teens being caught committing alleged criminal acts is steadily growing. The data includes youths charged, or who have received warnings from police, for criminal activity.
Where programs exist, the number of youths diverted away from the court system is also growing.
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In 1991, suburban (Halton, Peel, York and Durham regions) young people were involved in 6.6 per cent of all drug incidents. By 2005, they were involved in 29 per cent as the number of incidents almost tripled to 7,354.
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The percentage of youth incidents involving prohibited weapons/weapons possession jumped from 27.1 per cent in 1991 to 40.8 per cent in 2005. In the same period, the number of such incidents investigated jumped fivefold, from 207 to 1,087.
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In 1991, suburban youths were involved in 13.9 per cent of all violent crimes in the suburbs. In 2005, they were involved in 17.6 per cent. The actual number of incidents reported increased by about 11 per cent, to 14,933, over that time.
Police and youth counsellors say the numbers are an argument for government to establish a formal funding plan. But though the Youth Criminal Justice Act (passed in 2003) introduced the diversion concept, nothing compels municipalities to set up such a program and each region must find its own funding. Funding problems also plague services dealing with youth drug addiction, which statistics show has accounted for the largest rise in criminal incidents involving youths.
Dealing with the changing nature of youths and crime has been challenging for police forces around the GTA, especially in the 905 area, where the population has grown 31 per cent in the past 10 years — to almost three million — while Toronto has grown 9.5 per cent.
While the numbers make it seem like a teen crime wave, police are quick to say the numbers are up because they are paying more attention to teen crime.
In 2004, for instance, Durham police in Whitby did a sweep of local parks. The result was the arrest of 59 youths who faced a total of214 charges.
Police also do surveillance at high schools. If police in Burlington hear about someone at a high school selling drugs "we may go in and do a sweep and may pick up 20 kids," says Det. Const. Chris Dodds, a youth officer with Halton Region police.
"Our ability to solve crime should not in and of itself give the community concern that there is necessarily a spike in crime," says Insp. Paul Pedersen, who oversees York Region police's youth programs. "The better we are at doing the apprehension piece of our job, the higher the rate."
As the trends have unfolded, police in Halton, Peel, York and Durham regions have tried to adapt. In Newmarket, York police and teens meet monthly to discuss issues facing young people. In Burlington, Halton police run a program throughout the summer where they meet with children aged 8 to 12 and warn them about such things as Internet bullying.
As for enforcement, the Youth Criminal Justice Act compels police to consider alternatives to arresting teens who commit minor, non-violent offences. These alternatives include sending teens to pre-charge diversion programs, which attempt to get at the reasons behind the crime. Did they steal to pay for a cocaine addiction? If so, the teen will be sent to an agency specializing in addiction.
If teens complete a diversion program, they don't get a criminal record. It's a chance to turn their lives around, police say.
And it can cut down on crime. "From within our community, we see a low number who come back and re-offend," says Det. Sgt. Joe Barker of Halton Region police.
Ontario funds 20 pre-charge diversion pilot programs for youth across the province, but not every GTA region has a program. Toronto doesn't have a city-wide one. Halton and York have programs, but Peel doesn't expect to have one rolled out until January. Durham has one, but its funding is far from secure.
Not all youths are eligible for diversion programs. It depends on the type of crime they commit. Weapon offences, for example, render a teen ineligible. Teens who commit certain minor types of fraud, mischief, theft or assault may be eligible if the officer at the scene decides it's appropriate.
In York Region, if a police officer learns a teen shoplifted, the officer will investigate the crime and gather enough evidence to lay a charge. But instead of charging the teen, the officer might refer him or her to the diversion program administered by Community Counselling Services of York Region.
There, the teen will meet with program manager Melissa Ferry. "I make it very clear that ... they have to take responsibility for their actions," Ferry says.
If the teen doesn't like the sound of that, "I quickly remind them that they can take their chances in court if they would like."
Ferry will try to figure out what prompted the teen to shoplift. She'll ask if this is the first time the teen stole something. Often the answer is no. She may learn the teen has been stealing to support a growing drug habit.
Ferry will bring in the teen's parents. She'll explain the program to them. She'll ask if they have any idea why the teen shoplifted. She'll ask if money has gone missing from their wallets recently.
Based on conversations with the teen, parents and police, Ferry draws up a three-month contract specifying conditions the teen must fulfill. The teens must turn in weekly journals.
The diversion contract also has punitive measures. Teens may have to write an apology letter. They may also be assigned to find 10 articles related to shoplifting and do summaries of each. They'll have to repay the value of what they stole. No cash? Welcome to community service.
Last year, youth in Burlington did more than 5,000 hours, says Det. Const. Chris Dodds, a youth officer with Halton Region police. Halton's diversion program has been running for more than eight years — longer than the Youth Criminal Justice Act has been in effect.
Diversion programs vary slightly depending on the region — in Halton, for example, social workers involved work for the police, not a separate agency — but none of the programs are designed to be an easy rideAccording to Dodds: "I say, `I'm not here to be your friend. I'm not going to give you a hug. You've committed a criminal offence and we're going to put things in place. You need to comply with those and if you don't, then there are ramifications.'"
Sometimes parents know their teens need help, but "they're not sure what to do," Dodds says. "We help plug them into community service agencies." Last year, police in Burlington connected local teens with other agencies more than 600 times.
"For some of these kids that have no criminal past or very minor things, maybe there are some things going on at home or maybe the parent doesn't have the skills to deal with them," says Const. Dave Hookway, a high school liaison officer with Durham Region police.
"By using the diversion contracts, sometimes we can set them on the right track." Teens who complete a diversion successfully don't get a criminal record.
Some youths find the program so restrictive they'll opt for court instead. But that's rare, Dodds says. "When you're given an opportunity of a lifetime to have a second chance, most kids jump at it."
Despite the benefits, it's tough to get funding.
Toronto ran a pilot project from April 2002 to January 2004, but the program's federal funding was not renewed.
About 1,500 youth participated, says Staff Sgt. Dave Saunders of Toronto Police youth services division. "If we were still doing this program, we'd have at least 3,000 cases going to the community rather than the courts easily by this time," he says.
Margaret Stanowski, executive director of Operation Springboard, the community agency that administered the pilot project, gives the diversion program high marks. "We consider it a success. The police did and the parents and the youth."
Instead of charging some youths with a crime, police chose to send them to Springboard where they knew the teen would receive "a quick and timely consequence for their offending behaviour."
In addition to funding problems, the program needed better co-ordination, a study found.
A review of Toronto's pilot project done for the federal Department of Justice in 2004 concluded that the program failed in its goal of substantially reducing the use of youth court.
The study noted that only 13 per cent of officers interviewed suggested that the teens they referred to the diversion program would have otherwise ended up in youth court. About 77 per cent said that, in general, most of the cases they referred would have otherwise received a caution.
The study conceded that many aspects of the program worked well but suggested future attempts at diversion should include "more explicit policy on the use of youth court" and centralize decision-making about sending teens to diversion programs.
Durham's diversion program may also become a victim of a funding shortfall. The John Howard Society of Durham Region has run a pre-charge diversion program for more than two years with about 150 youths participating. But the agency doesn't get any funding specifically for the program.
"We're providing it as an extension of our existing programs," says Dianna Eastwood, program manager of the agency's counselling programs.
But that's not easy to do. "If we look at it from a long-term perspective it's not something we're going to be able to continue to do forever," she says, adding that it would take $60,000 to $70,000 a year to run the region's diversion program.
York Region's diversion program was only re-started in April after a year on hiatus.
The program began about three years ago as a pilot project by Community Counselling Services of York Region. With no cash to keep it afloat, it shut down a year and a half later, then re-opened after funding started to flow from the Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
In Peel, police hope to have a diversion program running by January but, in the meantime, the community is going forward with other initiatives. After holding a forum on youth violence in June, a committee began exploring how to open up public buildings after school and on weekends so young people have places to hang out and get involved in activities including music and dance. The programs would be mainly volunteer-run.
"When it comes down to it, that's pretty simple — support young people and provide them with things to do that help them grow up to be healthy adults," says Peel Region Councillor Gael Miles, who chairs the region's youth violence prevention committee.
"In so many ways, it's common sense. So why aren't we doing it? We really have to get back to the basics." |
