I have been having issues with my teenager running away a lot.
He doesn’t want to abide by house rules and prefers to do the easy
thing
– running away. One rule is if he wants to hang out with a
friend, I need to meet his/her parents so that there can be an
agreement that my son and his friend be supervised.
“I have been having issues with my teenager running away a lot. He doesn’t want to abide by house rules and prefers to do the easy thing – running away. One rule is if he wants to hang out with a friend, I need to meet his/her parents so that there can be an agreement that my son and his friend be supervised. He has been exposed to gangs,extacy, and what not, and I don’t want my son to get more exposed to what is out there. I feel if he’s not capable of following parental rules that he will not follow laws in society. I want my son to get the help he needs so that he could be a well abiding citizen when he’s older. The times he has run away, he’s been staying at a friend’s house. Can the parent of the friend be charged for having a minor in their home without having the other parents’ consent?”
Red Phone: Dear Prodigal Son Parent, Many parents share your frustrations trying to raise a teenager to grow up to be a good citizen. There are so many influences on a young person’s life that can cause him or her to go astray. Many books have been written on the subject.
A friend’s parents can’t be charged for just having a minor in their home but could be charged if there is something illegal going on, said Gilroy Police Sgt. Jim Gillio.
“If the parent is contributing to the delinquency (providing alcohol, drugs, facilitating other illegal activity) of a minor then they can be charged,” he said. “Also the social host ordinance may apply in this situation if the parent is allowing alcohol consumption – even if that parent is not home at the time of the party where the alcohol is being served.”
Gilroy has an intervention officer assigned to the ACT team whom Gillio recommend the youth talk to. You can contact Officer Doug Remmick at 846-0350.
Patrolling at 5:30 a.m.?
“I am curious about something I saw on Leavesley Road about three weeks ago. It was 5:30 in the morning. Two police officers in shorts on bicycles were patrolling over there. Is this something new or was this a special detail?”
Red Phone: Dear Night Watch, The officers weren’t out there just getting exercise in the morning air.
“The bike patrol was specifically targeting early morning burglaries, theft of recyclables and checking for new homeless encampments in ‘Bamboo Village’ and other areas we’ve received complaints about,” said Sgt. Wes Stanford.
During that shift, officers made six arrests (one of which was a wanted subject contacted while taking recyclables from curbside containers), had 10 documented contacts and made several other citizen contacts, he said.
“As the weather improves we hope to deploy officers on bicycle more frequently,” Stanford said. “The biggest hindrance to this method of patrolling has always been staffing levels, but we are trying to be more creative and less predictable in our approach to making Gilroy a safer community and believe this is one good way to reach that goal.”
