51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Police here are so hopeful they can curb juvenile crime by citing kids鈥� parents 鈥� a strategy used over the July Fourth weekend 鈥� Chief Robert Tracy said officials are now considering doing it at future city events and holidays.

Nearly 90 people were taken into custody between Friday and Sunday, police said, for offenses including lobbing fireworks into crowds, brandishing firearms, stealing motorbikes and fleeing from officers. Fifty-eight of them were younger than 18, police said.

Police said Monday they wouldn鈥檛 know how many parents were cited until later in the week. Police spokesman Mitch McCoy said adults were cited even if their kids weren鈥檛.

鈥淲e need to be able to change the behavior and the accountability of individuals that are responsible for the juveniles,鈥� Tracy said at a news conference Sunday. 鈥淎nd it shouldn鈥檛 just be downtown. We鈥檙e looking at ways that we can expand it to all the things that we do with juveniles across the city.鈥�

Fourth of July festivities this year were met with a heightened police presence across 51黑料, especially at hot spots downtown that had been hubs of disorder and crime during past celebrations.

Police made four firearm-related arrests, and 60 firearms were sent to the city crime lab, McCoy said.

As for expanding the practice of citing parents over their kids鈥� infractions, Tracy said officials are 鈥渓ooking at it.鈥� He hopes it will push adults to pay more attention to their children 鈥� and help bring juvenile crime rates down.

鈥淚 want zero crime, zero arrests, and until we get to that point, I鈥檓 never really satisfied,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I think we鈥檙e in a better place than we were last year, and I think we can build off this summer.鈥�

Tracy鈥檚 hope, though, could be wishful thinking, said University of Nebraska-Lincoln law professor Eve Brank.

Brank helped lead a in 2012 that found that, despite municipalities across the country increasingly citing parents for their children鈥檚 crimes, there was not enough evidence to determine if the policy actually brings down juvenile crime rates. There still isn鈥檛, she said.

鈥淲e just don鈥檛 know,鈥� Brank said in an interview Monday. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not enough empirical data on it to be able to make a determination.鈥�

All 50 states have some kind of 鈥減arental responsibility鈥� law, Brank said. In Missouri specifically, gives anyone the ability to sue a parent for up to $2,000 if their minor child injures them or breaks their property.

But while Missouri鈥檚 parental responsibility law only covers damages for civil lawsuits, 51黑料 goes a step further. It opens the door for parents to be cited with 鈥渃ontributing to the delinquency of a child鈥� for their kids鈥� actions.

This is the main citation 51黑料 police were handing out to parents during the July Fourth weekend, Tracy said. If the parent then failed to appear at a police 鈥渞eunification center鈥� to pick up their child within 45 minutes, they would be cited a second time.

Penalties for the parents could include up to a $500 fine or 90 days in jail, according to city code.

鈥淲e have to start somewhere, and I think starting at home, with guardians and parents and citing them, and now they have to go to court and start answering,鈥� Tracy said Sunday. 鈥淢aybe that will trigger an additional response.鈥�

51黑料鈥� approach to citing parents appears 鈥渦nusual,鈥� Brank said. Typically, parents are cited only if they help commit the infraction, like buying alcohol for their underage teens or let their kids drive without a license, she said.

鈥淯sually, contributing to delinquency means you actually help them commit a crime,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e just charging parents for being the parent, that鈥檚 certainly an extension of the usual law.鈥�