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Information swap may cut youth problems
April 16, 2004

By Adam Leech
aleech@seacoastonline.com

PLAISTOW - Police officials in Rockingham County discussed creating a mechanism to promote communication between departments on Tuesday, with the hope of helping youth in the county.

Police officials from Fremont, Sandown, Plaistow, Hampstead and Newton met with members of the Sanborn/Timberlane Safe and Drug Free Community Coalition at The Sad Cafe in Plaistow for the coalition’s policy network meeting to develop ways to help youths make risk-free decisions.

Fremont Police Chief Neal Janvrin said he’d like to see a mechanism created that would allow representatives of police departments in Rockingham County to meet regularly and share any issues regarding at-risk youth behavior.

The suggestion ignited a series of ideas and goals that consumed the entire hour-and-a-half long meeting.

Sandown Police Sgt. Aurie Roy said interraction between departments could increase their effectiveness in identifying and acting on trends in juvenile deliquency. She said she recently encountered an incident where a student had drugs concealed in the tip of a pen and that sort of information would be helpful for all departments to look out for.

"Kids do not stay in the same areas, so our efforts should not be limited to our towns," said Roy.

Roy and Janvrin joined Brentwood Family Division Judge Gerald Taube, Sandown Police Chief Joe Gordon, Hampstead Juvenile Officer Dale Childs, Plaistow Police Lt. Kathleen Jones and Newton Police Chief Larry Streeter in the discussion.

Some of the functions of the collaboration would be to share each department’s problems with certain individuals, areas of the towns and stores, and then create a plan to solve it. By discussing individuals, Rich Cram, of Family Mediation and Juvenile Services in Atkinson, said they can share individuals’ backgrounds and see if the problems are the result of problems at home.

Taube said if the departments can find the source of the problems and help them avoid the court, they could diminish the number of repeat offenders.

"My concern is we see these kids much too late in the process," said Taube. "We can’t scare them straight and their parents just want (the court) to finish the job they screwed up."

Taube said he hopes the coalition will be able to inform the courts about which programs work and which do not, so policy recommendations and legislation can be based on advice from experts.

Republished from The Rockingham News which is owned and operated by Seacoast Newspapers.
Copyright © 2005 Seacoast Online. All rights reserved.

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