October 25, 2006
Papers Cover Rocks: Are City Officials Paying Attention?
It certainly is telling that even with all of the crime emergencies, red-light enforcements, speed traps, juvenile curfews, ShotSpotters and surveillance cameras, there's still no end of criminal mischief that can be had by any poorly-mannered child with an armload of rocks. Earlier this year, as the spring gave way to the heat of the summer, every major press organ in the city covered the upswing in incidents related to the damage and injury caused by rock-throwing kids. Especially well-documented were the goings-on on a stretch of 11th Street, NW in Columbia Heights, where children, using the vantage point of high balconies to both target victims and evade arrest, turned the corridor into a harrowing ordeal for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists alike.
Now, ABC News reports that there has been an increase of this sort of activity on the Capital Beltway, where 21 vehicles have been damaged by rocks and bricks thrown from the Temple Hills Road overpass.
While an investigation of these new incidents is ongoing, history has taught residents of the city and its outlying suburbs that measurable crackdowns on this sort of criminal activity are rare. But while it might be easy to let rock throwing juveniles take their place alongside the Cherry Blossom Festival as a landed DC tradition, the unavoidable fact is that this activity will likely end in a fatality — either from the act itself or some retaliatory gesture.
Seeing as how presumptive Mayor Adrian Fenty enrobed himself in the pageantry of voting against the D.C. Council original crime emergency bill, maybe it's time we heard from the candidate on this matter. Make no mistake: at first blush, a city-wide Anti-Rock Throwing Initiative sounds pretty stupid. But until some city official addresses this concern, the only people who will be speaking with any measure of gravitas about it will be the victims of these attacks.
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The problem is rock throwing is not taken seriously until someone dies. Its seen as mischief by kids rather than what it really is: assault. It's not going to stop until the police take it seriously and start locking kids up. I challenge Fenty to stand up to this violence and put an end to it.
The curfew worked because the city was clear that the $500 fine would be levied to the parents. That motivated them to take interest in and responsibility for the actions of their children. While identifying and catching the criminals is a persistant problem, the parental accountability thing seems the tool to use.
Just call it the Embracing Diversity of Projectiles and Child Protection Act of 2006.
Then punish them as adults.
You've got that right. A couple of years ago I was pelted by a group of pre-teens roaming Malcolm X Park at dusk. Angry as I was, there were about a dozen of them and one of me, and a friend of mine had recently been sent to the hospital by a gang of munchkins of similar age in Mt. Pleasant not long before, so I quickly ducked into the building I was headed for while the leader of the group proudly announced that they were "keeping it real".
But if I was in a car, and had a tire iron at my disposal? That could have gotten ugly for everyone.
It could be worse... they could be throwing computers...
Things are never going to change around here until the District starts charging EVERY juvenile offender as an adult, with zero tolerance.
The kids throw rocks for two reasons:
1.) they know they're unlikely to be caught.
2.) they know that if they are caught, they won't be punished by a crime system that is incredibly lenient toward juveniles.
The headline for this entry was just genius. Kudos.
Things are never going to change around here until the District starts charging EVERY juvenile offender as an adult, with zero tolerance.
What makes you believe this? Do you know of evidence that supports this approach?
We attempted to talk to the director at the Rec Center about the situation, he basically told us drop dead. After someone had the rear window of their car shattered, we were forced to call the police. Again, that kept the kids at bay for a week or two, but with no fear of any kind of consequences or repercussions there was nothing to keep these kids from attacking us with complete impugnity.
When we called Parks & Rec to request a different field we were rebuffed. About half the team lives in DC; but calls to Council members went unanswered and at every turn the attitude of people we dealt with was "go fuck yourself you carpetbagging yuppie asshole" despite the fact that the thousands of dollars we pay to DCPR is part of what finances the programs where ever we practice.
The whole situation was really embarassing and depressing for me as a Black man. What can I say to a guy who just moved to DC from the Mid-West and this is one of the first things that happens to him in DC and his reaction is to call the kids animals?
People always get upset at me for suggesting this, but Kryptonite locking a rock-thrower's neck to a fence and pissing on their face seems fair to me.
If your practice was well attended, you would have had to have had at least 15 guys there. How many people were throwing rocks at you? Just wondering cause normally I'd consider throwing rocks at a rugby team to be a life-threatening activity.
I remember a few years back when I was living in Michigan some kids threw a brick at a car from an overpass and it did kill someone. Thankfully that kid was caught and punished accordingly. Not sure how much attention will be paid until something so serious does happen unfortunately. Just like how the rock throwing kids vs. bikes situation seems to have been forgotten about though surely persists.
I'd consider throwing rocks at a rugby team to be a life-threatening activity.
These were all little boys between 8-14, it's kind of frowned upon for adult men to whomp their asses; the kids knew we weren't in position to do anything to them, hence their boldness.
The Temple Hills overpass doesn't have an exit, but the next road up (St. Barnabas Road) does. Take the exit, make two rights, and you're there. Not that I would encourage Kryptonite locking urolagnia (didn't think I'd get to say THAT again).
And really, what's called for here is for the City Council to put forward a bold Rock Control Initiative that says to would-be rock throwers, "We're serious about getting rocks off the streets." The first step should be a rock buyback program.
It's shit like this that really makes me miss NYC.....