Northern Utah task force reaching out to teens, parents
By LORETTA PARK
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lpark@standard.net
SYRACUSE -- The No. 1 factor to keep teenagers crime-free is parents, police said.
"Be a parent," said Syracuse Police DARE Officer Stan Penrod at a two-hour meeting for parents Tuesday at Syracuse High School. "Take care of them. Monitor where they are. Follow up on what they are doing. These are great kids."
Syracuse Police Department hosted the meeting and hopes it will become an annual event.
Syracuse Police Detective Corey Rowley, who is also a member of the Northern Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, preached that being a parent means knowing where your teenagers are, what they are doing, who they are with, and with whom and how they are communicating on cell phones and computers.
Rowley said pedophiles do not live in another state. They live in Davis County, even nearby, and they know how to "fish" for information in chat rooms.
Rowley said parents need to monitor or ban their teenager's use of Facebook, Twitter or MySpace. Also they need to monitor who their teenagers are texting and what they are sending in text messages.
"Porn on cell phones is becoming an issue in elementary schools," Rowley said.
Rowley said a parent told him she could not look at what was on her teenager's phone, "because it's his phone."
"Do you pay the bills?" Rowley responded. "Are you his mother? Be a parent."
Police want to avoid headlines like those that appeared two years ago when a group of teenage boys, including football players, were arrested and convicted of burglaries in the area, said Detective Sgt. Heath Rogers.
"These are good kids from good families who just made wrong choices," Rogers said.
Some other issues police wanted parents to be aware of are curfew ordinances, gangs and drugs.
"Nothing good happens after midnight is a true statement," Rogers said. "But remember, bad people are out after midnight."
Rogers said in a recent road block at 2000 W. 1700 South, officers arrested eight people suspected of driving under the influence. A similar road block conducted by Layton police near Davis Hospital and Medical Center at Christmastime did not net any DUIs.
"What that tells us is people are driving the back roads through Syracuse to avoid the main roads," Rogers said.
Fran Smith, who moved to Syracuse from Roy a year ago, said she was surprised to learn about the number of gangs in the area.
"I really didn't think there were any," Smith said.
Police are also concerned they will see an increase in illegal drug use and alcohol use among teenagers with the approaching football season and holidays.
As part of the presentation, drug-testing kits were made available through Davis Behavioral Health Inc. for $2 per kit. The kits are a four-panel test, which tests for four substances: cocaine, amphetamines, marijuana and opiates.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff did not attend the meeting.
However, on Wednesday he said parents have the right to test their children for illegal drugs.
"Teenagers are minors and do not have the right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment," Shurtleff said in a phone interview.
"You can search their rooms, cars, backpacks, monitor their cell phones and computers," he said.
Shurtleff said his own three children who are at home, ages 12, 15 and 17, know he will test them and search their things.
The key is to talk to them so they know it will happen.
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