ROCKLAND, Maine — The Rockland Police Department shared a press release on Tuesday addressing ongoing juvenile crime in the city and sharing methods officers are currently using to mitigate criminal behavior among the community's youth.
Rockland Police Chief Tim Carroll said burglary, theft, and criminal mischief are just a few of the crime trends being committed by juveniles that his department has been handling.
Consistent juvenile crime has left the police department and community members like Keely Walsh at a crossroads, unsure about how to intervene and concerned for safety.
"I've had lots of incidents, especially when I was working late nights, when I would get in my car and suddenly there would be children on bicycles circling the car so I couldn't leave," Walsh said. "And it just makes me feel unsafe, and it makes me feel that they are also unsafe if they're out at night."
Walsh works at the Black Parrot, and she said teens burglarized the store over the weekend.
She has lived in Rockland for the last 20 years, and she said juvenile crime is nothing new, explaining that the police department has been struggling to control juvenile crime for years.
"They've become more apparent and a little more flagrant with the whole thing, and they don't seem to care about any sort of repercussions at the moment... which is the biggest issue," Walsh said.
The lack of concern for possible consequences that follow criminal offenses that Walsh said she sees is the same issue that Carroll said he and officers have observed from youth in the community who repeatedly commit juvenile crimes.
It's an issue that Carroll said the police department is trying to face head on, but stopping the crime and redirecting teens is becoming increasingly challenging.
"I just went to a court hearing with a juvenile, and the juvenile said that they're not going to abide by the restrictions put [in place] by the system," Carroll said.
Gaps in the juvenile corrections system leaves Rockland police with their hands tied, Carroll explained. He said he believes the current juvenile corrections system provides too much leniency, and procedures in place don't give juveniles incentives to put an end to criminal behavior.
He said he feels law enforcement has no way to hold youth accountable for their actions.
"It's become almost a joke to them. As far as what happens, they know that once we get them and we bring them [to the police department], we go through a paperwork process, and they're released back on the street," Carroll said.
According to Carroll, the juvenile detention system is full and court dates that follow after a juvenile commits a crime are often scheduled six months out, leaving juveniles several months between to commit new crimes that build up over time.
The department is increasing community policing efforts in various ways. Deputy Chief Alex Gaylor said the department hosts a weekly drop-in night at the Flanagan Rec Center on Thursdays where youth can come play games, play pickup basketball, and interact with police officers in a constructive setting.
Gaylor said the department is also working close with several business owners in the city to help juveniles get jobs, hoping to keep them busy with work rather than crime.
Despite the department's attempts to support youth and implement methods that challenge officers to step outside of their normal duties as officers, Gaylor said there is a small group of juveniles who aren't getting the message, and who continue to test the waters.
"We don't have that in-between. It's either leave them in the community or send them to Long Creek," Gaylor said.
Gaylor added that laws that determine when a teen can be sent to Long Creek Youth Development Center have changed, leaving gaps in the system and defining boundaries that police officers can't overstep.
"It leaves them just to continue their behavior until it escalates into something very serious, [at] which point we are able to do something. It leaves us very frustrated with the system, and it leaves the community vulnerable to just this continued criminal, disorderly behavior."
Gaylor said the department is committed to exploring various methods to get juveniles who are committing crimes on the right track, because they don't want to see young people put themselves in danger or ruin their futures.
"It's not an us-versus-them. We're obviously not going to tolerate their criminal behavior, but we're there to help them if they want to make good choices," Gaylor said. "It's not only the community that suffers, but these juveniles as well."
While the police department works to support youth, Walsh said she wishes children and teens had more support and more positive outlets to turn to.
"I think that there are too many of them with not enough to lose and nothing to do," Walsh said.