YOUTH ARRESTS SURGE IN 905

Stats Up As Police Target Teen Crime, Second Chances, But Only For Some

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.

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.

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.

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."