Category: Agency Serving a Population of Fewer than 20,000 Residents
The Problem
Gulf Breeze is a close-knit community that has engaged in traditional “Homecoming high jinks” since 1962. For example, local high school students often “roll” each others’ trees and houses with toilet paper. While this normally benign activity has not caused a great number of problems in the past, there has been a recent shift in the behavior of some members of the community. Since September 11, 2001, students engaged in this activity have been confronted on several occasions by armed homeowners. A homeowner twice has held students at gunpoint or threatened them with a bat.
School resource officers first brought the matter to the attention of school authorities and to police management. In addition to this recent development, vandalism in general also has been increasing over the years in concert with the “rolling” activity. Vandalism complaints continued to rise and reached a peak of a tenfold increase each year during October’s Homecoming. Annual efforts to increase patrols during Homecoming week to curb vandalism were proving ineffective, and in 2001, school resource officers arranged to have school authorities impose detention on students caught out in the late hours of Homecoming week with toilet paper, paint ball guns or other items commonly used for vandalism. While this initiative proved successful and reduced complaints by 50 percent, the result was still a fivefold increase in vandalism compared to the normal monthly average.
While the increased vandalism itself required a solution, the post-September 11 use of guns and other weapons by members of the community presented a more urgent problem. Without an immediate and effective response, it was almost certain that a needless tragedy involving the injury or death of a teenager would occur.
The Solution
The department approached the solution to the problem with the understanding that it needed the cooperation of the students for its plan to work. The department needed the students to recognize there was a problem, to adopt an appropriate response to the problem and to create peer pressure to seek comprehensive compliance. By getting the students to realize they were in danger by being out late at night in peoples’ yards, the department hoped the students would no longer see the behavior as “cool.” Since these were violations of criminal law, law enforcement did not need the cooperation or agreement of the students; however, it was stressed that the department expected compliance and cooperation and that it would be firm in its dealings with offenders.
The plan to curb vandalism incidents and reduce the likelihood of a tragic accident incorporated a number of tactics, including peer pressure, parental control, school discipline, law enforcement and positive incentives. In order to reach everyone involved, all key stakeholders were brought together to assist in developing a plan, including students from each grade level, parents, school administrators, teachers, Gulf Breeze school resource officers, other law enforcement and the media.
Students created an “anti-vandalism pledge” similar to a “prom pledge,” and the high school principal awarded an additional tardy pass to all who signed the pledge. Law enforcement doubled patrols in the neighborhoods during Homecoming week, field-interrogated all youth out after the “curfew” and reported those youths to the proper school authorities. The police chief and the high school principal notified parents of the plan during school orientation parents’ night. In addition, a letter that outlined the plan was mailed to every parent the week before Homecoming. The media publicized the activities to the community, and the school resource officer and high school principal went to every class in the high school and the middle school to review the plan.
Evaluation
To evaluate the statistical success of this program, the crime statistics for vandalism and malicious mischief complaints were evaluated for the prior three years as well as statistics related to assaults on juveniles. Vandalism complaints were reduced to 50 percent below normal monthly levels for the month of October 2002, and assaults against youths were reduced to zero for the month. Another positive effect of the effort was that the number of minors found in possession of alcohol had dropped to nearly zero as well.
The department’s anecdotal evidence of the program results came in several forms. The school administration reported a drastic reduction in the number of complaints they received about student activities during Homecoming week. City council members noted that there were no problems or complaints to them about illegal activities during Homecoming.
Officers noted a significant reduction in the number of youth out in the late hours and the subsequent reduction in juvenile field interviews. Only one home in the city had its trees “rolled” or covered in toilet paper, and that was done with the explicit permission of the parent. Anecdotal reports of cars being keyed or spray-painted, trespassing, property vandalism and trees being “rolled” were reduced to almost zero.
