Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard said juveniles are the ones behind the majority of the auto burglaries in Starkville and drew a direct link between the guns they’ve stolen from cars and the increase in violent crime that has occurred over the past months.
He said there were 12 auto burglaries reported in the city over the last seven days, with one weapon reported stolen among those cases.
“The reality is … that firearm is probably in the hands of a juvenile right now,” Ballard told a group of Starkville area educators, ministers and other residents at a community meeting held Monday night at Starkville High School.
The auto burglaries are the driving force behind a proposed juvenile curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., which both Starkville aldermen and Oktibbeha County supervisors are considering in hopes of decreasing what many residents fear is an escalation of violent crime among juveniles. Over the past two months, there have been multiple violent crimes allegedly committed by juveniles, including a fatal shooting on Easter weekend, a shooting without injuries in McKee Park on April 20 and a fatal shooting on Pilcher Street on March 3.
Golden Triangle area law enforcement have said previously auto burglaries are one of the major ways criminals obtain weapons used in violent crimes. Ballard previously told The Dispatch the peak time for vehicle burglaries is between midnight and 4 a.m.
Some aldermen said they wanted to see statistics on whether juvenile curfews actually lead to a decrease in crime — a representative from youth advocacy organization National Youth Rights Association told The Dispatch some studies have shown it leads to an increase in violent crime — so Ballard said SPD employees are currently compiling national data to present to city officials.
He specifically said he is also looking into areas where those curfews have been most effective to see how those cities implemented them.
“Obviously if we’re looking at templates that are successful, why are they successful?” he said. “If you’ve got a template out there that’s not successful, why is it not successful? How does it apply to us? These are complicated things that we’re trying to do in a short amount of time.”
Services for families
Attendees at the meeting also addressed support programs for youth and parents, including the community service opportunities through the J.L. King Center and a “parenting support group” through Montpelier Baptist Church, which Pastor Ronnie Tucker said includes parenting classes held every other Saturday.
One major issue in the community, attendees agreed, is parents who are unable — or in some cases unwilling — to be involved in their children’s lives, either because of financial struggles, mental health issues or addiction. Tucker specifically asked citizens to promote the church’s parenting classes as well as donate items like laundry detergent, food and gift cards for the church to use as door prizes or care packages to incentivise parents in need to come. He asked any volunteers or parents interested to email him at [email protected].
Ballard said the curfew, if put into effect, may help law enforcement identify families who need those support services, or children whose parents may need to face legal repercussions because of neglect or truancy.
“At the heart of our curfew is to address why these juveniles are out, many of them in unstructured homes where we have parental, family breakdown, checking on these (car) doors,” Ballard said.
“If we pick up a 14-year-old at 1:30 in the morning, and two hours later, we’ve tried to send officers by the house, we’ve been unable to contact, the juvenile doesn’t know where the parent’s at, they can’t contact the parent, the parent’s not out looking for them (and) it’s very apparent that this is not uncommon for this parent, it is a flag for the system to say, ‘We might have a problem here,’” he added.
Starkville resident Dominic Nix-Ellis, the parent of a Starkville High School senior, said she likes the idea of the curfew and found the meeting a great way to learn about volunteer opportunities and support services in the community. However, she said she wished more parents had been present to hear about them too.
She said she attended another community meeting addressing juvenile crime at McKee Park on April 22.
“I’m going to put on my social media page that they need to go out and get more because at the park, we didn’t have many parents,” she said. “It was probably like three parents. This time it was just me and my daughter. … People need to get out. If the parents, then the youth (will) come out. I may volunteer to go pick up somebody to bring (to future community meetings).”
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