POLICE TEACHING HARD LESSONS

Night Patrol With The Police Shows Challenges They Face In Youth Crime

Two groups of teenaged boys picked a pretty place to get high on a
recent Friday evening, but the timing of their visit to Bedford's
Admiral Rock Park couldn't have been worse.

That's because Staff Sgt. Richard Lane, commander of the Halifax
Regional Police west division, wanted to discuss his concerns about
youth crime and spent the evening showing this reporter some of the
local trouble spots.

After checking out graffiti at the Bedford Lions playground we went
to Admiral's Rock Park, arriving around 5:30 p.m.

Just a few steps into woods off Snowy Owl Drive, the trees open to
reveal a stunning vista of Halifax Harbour.

Standing atop a 10-metre cliff, the downtown skyline and Halifax
Harbour bridges provide a beautiful contrast to the shimmering
waters of Bedford Basin.

Soon the chatter of young voices reaches us from below. So does the
unmistakable smell of pot.

Staff Sgt. Lane quickly moves his massive frame over some big rocks
on a winding path and confronts three average-looking boys who turn
out to be 17 and 18.

The tallest kid has headphones around his neck, a ball cap on
backward and a cellphone in hand. One wears jeans and a T-shirt and
the other a sweater, corduroy pants and flip-flops.

Staff Sgt. Lane asks if they were smoking dope. Nervously, they say
no and he tells them he hates being lied to.

He warns them not to move as he checks their pockets. The flip-flops
wearer has a lighter and some Visine, an eye solution that prevents
bloodshot eyes caused by pot use.

The next boy's pockets hold about a spoonful of marijuana in tinfoil.

Staff Sgt. Lane radioes for another officer to meet us and has the
kids walk to their car. He carries their identification and gives
them stern instructions, but talks casually about other things, even
teasing that the boy's flip-flops are "his sister's sandals."

The boys look sick with worry as Staff Sgt. Lane asks if there's
more dope in their small green Mazda.

They say no but he reminds them how he hates lies.

"I've got some," one boy answers. "I'm not going to lie to you."

He and another boy go to the car and both return with four grams.
Staff Sgt. Lane asks what they paid -- one spent $30 and the other
$40 -- and then chides them for what looks like poor-quality weed.
For about 20 minutes, Staff Sgt. Lane has the anxious boys wait on
the hood of their car while he checks to see if they've been in
trouble before.

They haven't and it's apparent that the officer appreciates their
good manners and clean records.

Const. James Bennett arrives to help and the officers say they can't
just let the boys go, because they're high and can't drive. They
make them call their parents to say they're taking the bus home.

The first boy speaks quietly into Const. Bennett's cellphone.

"Guess what mom," he says. "The cops just busted me for smoking
dope. They wanted me to call you because I can't take the car from
here because I'm impaired."

Then Const. Bennett talks to her. The other boys make the same
disheartening calls and Const. Bennett takes them to a bus stop.
Later, Staff Sgt. Lane explains in an interview why the kids got off
with a good scare and a call home.

"Quite often that's a better fit for this type of crime, rather than
clogging up the court system for small amounts of marijuana.

"We could have charged them with possession of the drug, but . . .
here's these three that I would consider decent kids that have never
been in trouble . . . that needed to learn a lesson. I felt that was
the way to learn that lesson."

From the park, Staff Sgt. Lane drives to a graffiti-covered underpass.

The site, which has paved walls and a roadway going over an
abandoned field, is a wild display of colours and images.

Staff Sgt. Lane says graffiti makes people feel unsafe and points
out the litter -- dozens of paint cans, rollers and other filth --
left behind.

Then Const. Bennett radioes to say that five boys carried liquor
into the park we were just at.

When we arrive, Const. Bennett is leading the teens out of the woods
and says he took a gram of marijuana and a pint of vodka from them.
The five, all previously clean students at a local high school, get
the same treatment as the other boys and have to call home.

Over the next few hours, we check out party spots in wooded areas
strewn with beer cans and patrol other parks and schoolyards.

At a house party on High Street in Bedford, Staff Sgt. Lane chats
with a father who is allowing his underage daughter to drink with
her young friends on the property.

The father said he wanted to monitor their drinking. Staff Sgt. Lane
tells him he'd be legally liable if anything happened once the kids
left the party and says he has grounds to enter the house.

"Instead of being the parent, he tried to be the friend," Staff Sgt.
Lane says later.

Other calls come in about a supposed fight involving 40 kids in
Bedford and a futile attempt to burn a local school, the second such
incident in weeks.

Staff Sgt. Lane's division also handles Spryfield, but we hear no
calls from that area.

Staff Sgt. Lane said 10-12 officers cover his division each night
and about 10-20 per cent of their calls come from neighbours worried
about the activities of local youth.

"It ranges from noise to drinking to vandalism, throwing rocks at
cars (and) fights."

During an upcoming police campaign, a quick-response unit will rush
into 10 trouble spots in each of the city's three divisions and take
a zero-tolerance approach to any illegal activities it encounters.

Everyone will be charged in the hopes of sending a message other
young people will remember throughout the summer, Staff Sgt. Lane said.

One of the officer's biggest concerns involves parents. He thinks
they should know their children's friends and those children's
parents and know what they are doing.

"People need to be involved in their kids' lives. Don't be afraid to
ask questions, set rules and boundaries and then we won't have to
parent for them out on the street."

'We could have charged them with possession of the drug, but . . .
here's these three that I would consider decent kids that have never
been in trouble . . . that needed to learn a lesson. I felt that was
the way to learn that lesson.'