Crime Prevention-Raise Your Child

Myleatta Wilson
Graduate
Osborn University High School


“Posted: 11:26 a.m. Aug. 19, 2009
Eastpointe ordinance targets parental duties
BY CHRISTINA HALLFREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Parents or guardians who fail to supervise children age 17 and younger could be charged with a misdemeanor offense under a parental responsibility ordinance unanimously adopted Tuesday by Eastpointe City Council.
Many communities in metro Detroit already have similar ordinances on the books. It is intended to establish parental duties in preventing children from committing delinquent acts.
According to the ordinance, it is the duty of parents or guardians to keep illegal drugs and firearms out of the home and legal firearms locked up; know the city’s curfew law; arrange for proper supervision of children when they are not home; prevent children from destroying property, and forbidding children to keep stolen property, illegal firearms or drugs.
If convicted, parents or guardians face up to 30 days in jail for the first offense and up to 93 days for the second and subsequent offenses. The fine in both cases is up to $500, Councilwoman Wendy Richardson said.
The council has been talking about the ordinance for nearly three months and introduced it Aug. 11. Richardson said the ordinance is not as much of a punishment to parents as it is to “reinforce the responsibility of parents to parent.”
She said the council asked for a report in a year to determine how often the ordinance was used.
Contact CHRISTINA HALL: 586-826-7265 or chall@freepress.com.”


Its only a matter of time before Detroit starts to pick up on this ordinance that has been developed in Eastpointe to make sure parents fulfill their parental duties as far as knowing what their children are involved in. This is the beginning of something that’s going to change the outlook on the activities that youth partake in when their not with their parents. Too bad their not going to be too happy about it.

It’s all about trust when it comes to a child or teen being able to do what they want to while on their own. But when the child goes as far as getting into trouble that involves a crime, things start to change for the better, thus the ordinance being introduced. I’m happy to know that someone has finally made the intitiative to put the heat not only on the children but the parents as well. The child had to get the behavior from somewhere, and with proper monitoring I never think tat child would do something so serious as a crime in front of their parents.

We have to understand the importance of parental guidance. The youth committing crimes are being rasied by the streets and with that being said, how much longer are we going to shake our heads at the issue of the missing parents? Yes they are missing, and even though we are less than likely to get into the issues of someone else and especially their children, it should be our duty as a community in Detroit to start taking advantage of the responsibilty of making sure the children in the community stay out of trouble just as well as the parents should. It takes a village to raise a child, so my question is this- are these the kind of chidren we would really raise in our household? Are these the children, the ones who commit crimes, the ones we want our children to bring home as far as when their ready to date? People, we must understand that we are a product of our own surroundings and to be honest I'm sick of being labeled as another statistic.