Jackson Free Press

With Jackson Public Schools now out for the summer, many people are worried that the students' newly found freedom will lead to kids getting bored or giving in to peer pressure, which opens up the possibility for a summer season filled with mischief.

Even the Jackson Police Department is wary of the coming weeks. At last week's COMSTAT meeting, Assistant Chief Lee Vance recommended that officers be extra watchful for young troublemakers during the summer months.

"I do think that we've seen enough summers where it has spiked enough for it to become an issue that we like to pay attention to," Vance said.

In an interview, Vance said parental supervision is always the best solution for directing kids away from trouble and crime. However, most parents must work during the day, and they are not always readily available to keep a watchful eye on their children.

Vance says that juvenile crime often results from adult criminals, who take advantage of kids' youth and naivete, influencing them to participate in criminal activity to avoid blame and harsher punishment for themselves.

"I've believed for a while now that some of the youth that get in trouble are encouraged to do so by wayward, criminal-minded adults who have influence on them," Vance explained. "Mainly it's because they know that kids committing certain crimes at a certain age are going to stay in the juvenile system as opposed to the adult system."

Most of the crime kids are getting mixed up in is property crime, namely house burglaries. Vance says that some summers they see a spike in house burglaries, and often it is due to kids with a lack of supervision.

However, Vance doesn't buy into the idea that children find trouble to get into when they are bored. Rather, he said, the issue boils down to poor decision making when confronted with peer pressure in relation to sex, drugs, and other things that kids are pressured into at a young age and have the potential to drastically affect their lives.

Regardless of the reasons kids dabble in dangerous activity, Vance said, youth programs are a good solution to combating much of the city's major crime.

That is, if a stop can be put to trouble-making from the get-go, kids will be less likely to involve themselves with more serious crimes down the road.

Vance referenced two summer outreach programs that the JPD hosts during the summer: the Youth Citizens Police Academy and the police athletic league. He says that both offer school-aged kids an opportunity to participate in scheduled activities or sports under the supervision of police staff. "We think it's very, very successful," he said.

Summer youth programs offer several other benefits besides just keeping children out of trouble. This year's programs nurture children's educational interests, including technology, aviation, the arts, music, reading, culinary art, history, hiking, sports, health and fitness, and leadership and career development.

Also, the programs are designed to help children on an intrinsic level by hosting activities that aid in building their self-esteem and instilling in them a motivation to succeed.

For parents who would like to involve their kids in a program this summer but worry about the cost, many of the programs are free or offered at a relatively low cost, and some are available for both half-day and full day care. Also, some programs accept child-care vouchers for those who qualify.

JPS has the entire list of school, nonprofit and city programs on the JPS official website at http://www.jackson.k12.ms.us.