Teen vandalism has once again increased during the summer, as it does now during most extended school holidays. Incidents range from toilet-papering trees at homes and putting soap in water fountains to more serious incidents including egging cars, spray-painting graffiti, breaking windows, keying vehicles, smashing mailboxes and slashing tires.
It’s a combination of having more time on their hands, no bedtime and more time spent with friends, said Southlake City Councilwoman Laura Hill, who helped found SPARK [Students and Parents Against Risks to our Kids].
"They’re good kids. They’re my kids. They’re the neighbor’s kid," Hill said. "The best kid in the world can do something dumb. They’re just looking for something to do."
The problem is not localized in Southlake. Colleyville and Grapevine have the same problem.
Statistics in Colleyville show that in August, 2007, 14 cases of criminal mischief were reported. Last July, 15 incidents were reported, with 21 in June. During the school year, the average is six to eight a month.
This August has been even busier. For example, on Aug. 4 alone, Colleyville police responded across the city to nine incidents of brick mailbox destruction, totaling $4,829. On July 16, police went to three different homes to investigate vandalism, including use of food products to damage cars and homes. Whatever the reasons for this activity — whether it be just kids rebelling or bored kids who believe consequences are for someone else — many incidents translate into big bucks to fix or clean up damaged property. This means higher costs for all in insurance premiums.
"The ones we’ve caught have been predominantly 14 to 18 years old," said Colleyville Officer Bill Hudgins. "It’s a crime of opportunity.""We take these cases [criminal mischief] very seriously," Grapevine Sgt. Kim Smith said. "Damages that range from $1,500 to $20,000" become a felony, "so, now you’re moving up in the criminal scale of punishment."
Police want to get the message across that investigating these incidents costs time and money that could be spent on serious crimes in the three cities. Offenders also don’t consider that an officer is getting paid from a city budget, Hudgins added.
"The kids that do it don’t ever think of the fact that it’s going to take a police officer’s time away from apprehending burglary suspects or DWIs."
Police advise residents to get more involved in crime prevention in their neighborhoods. Hudgins said all details will help, including year, make, model of suspects’ vehicle, as well as a license plate number and description of the suspects.
Vandals who are caught in Southlake could face stiffer penalties from Teen Court as well.
Hill, who sits on the Teen Court Board, said they are considering raising the number of community service hours and other punishments for vandalism to better fit the crime.
"Kids need to know they did something wrong," Hill said.
In Colleyville and Southlake, a teenage curfew makes it a crime for anyone under the age of 17 to be in public between 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday. On Fridays and Saturdays, the hours are midnight to 6 a.m. If you are underage, you can be ticketed or jailed, and often your parents are called. The curfew gives law enforcement officers a reason to stop teenagers who are in public late at night, said Roderick Page, an officer with the Southlake DPS.
Grapevine does not have a teen curfew, Smith said, although she said it could be a helpful tool.
"When I do a presentation, I tell parents that the Grapevine curfew is whatever time the parents told the child to be home." That is something parents have to enforce."
Hudgins is a big fan of the Colleyville curfew: "It’s been statistically proven that [curfews] helps reduce crimes because most of these [vandalisms] happen in the dark, after most people are in bed ..., which would be after 10 or 11 o’clock. If you’ve got a curfew, ...that keeps juveniles off the street after that time; you’ve reduced the number of potential perpetrators out there."
Staff Writer Nicholas Sakelaris contributed to this article.