Numbers for juvenile offences are increasing
By Barb Pert Templeton
St. Clair County Sheriff Matt King gave the Algonac City Council his quarterly update about providing law enforcement services for the city at it’s regular bi-monthly meeting on July 18.
He began by explaining that things have been very busy and in June there were 644 calls for service. Of those calls, 468 were assists to the public, property checks and school walk throughs.
“I talked (before) about our deputies continuing to make themselves busy even if they’re not getting calls for service,” King said. “We feel it’s a great way to keep ahead of the crime to be seen publicly and to have ourselves available for needs outside of regular calls for service.”
He then addressed an increase they’ve experienced in juvenile calls. The department had ten and that was a bit up from the usual which is three to five calls per month. He said law enforcement are seeing challenges with juvenile calls because they don’t have a place to put juvenile offenders. There are only five beds in the whole county for those taken into custody. Today the court decides if they should be incarcerated and the sheriff at times will have to rent beds from Macomb County, King said.
“In the past, most juveniles, if they were taken to a facility, they would see the magistrate the next day and a plan would be set forth and most of the time it worked and it stopped these juveniles from reoffending,” King said. “Right now, we don’t have that case, our deputies are getting more and more calls, to the same houses and we’re not able to serve our public like we’d like to.”
It’s difficult because law enforcement tries to come up with a plan to have another family member take the child for the night but the parents have to agree and all too often, they end up called back to the same homes.
“It’s kind of tying our hands; it’s a frustrating thing for law enforcement, I think were’ creating an environment where these juveniles, instead of learning a lesson very young we are breeding criminal activity in the wrong way,” King said. “We just don’t have placement for them.”
The St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office has a contract to provide law enforcement services to the City of Algonac.
He concluded by saying that it’s not that he wants to see all juvenile offenders locked up, not at all, but there are crimes and offenses where they should have that option for both the perpetrator and the victim’s safety.
King also touched on how the recent Algonac Pickerel Tournament went from a safety standpoint in the city, said they had a great plan in place and described it as “a great festival and a much safer festival.”
“I’d like to thank everybody for their cooperation, it’s a big task making sure the festival is safe,” King said. “And I’m proud of the work done and I appreciate the work by the deputies and first responders.”
At the conclusion of King’s presentation Councilman Michael Bembas asked how law enforcement felt the new metal barriers the city purchased worked out and were they sufficient?
“From everything I heard they worked great, everything was laid out nicely,” King said, adding they didn’t have the problems they had last year.
He said county law enforcement is actually working on purchasing some more barriers, recommended by the federal government, that are applicable for stopping vehicles of a certain size that might try ramming into a crowd.
Referring to the report King gave officials, Bembas questioned the section that says “assisting other departments” where numbers were high and wondered what happens in the city at that time.
“How are we still protecting Algonac or watching over Algonac when we’re someplace else?” Bembas said.
King said those assists are not responding to places a great distance from Algonac, in fact they are usually the third or fourth car so if something occurs in the city they can swing back quickly.
He said they also plan ahead and if an officer has to be out of the city to investigate something related to an incident in Algonac, they have a backup deputy in place.
Bembas noted that he’s very happy with the sheriff’s efforts and told King that if they need anything else just ask the city.
Mayor Pro Tem Raymond Martin and Mayor Rocky Gillis both took a moment to thank King and his department for their work on behalf of the city.
