Last week, law enforcement agencies were on heightened alert.
Not because of bank robbers or criminal gangs, because of teenagers.
Specifically, teenagers who thought it was a good idea to make threats against their schools.
Two students, a 12-year-old from Dawson-Bryant and a 16-year-old from Ironton, were arrested and now faces charges in the juvenile court.
And those charges are felonies. While the court system doesn’t treat children like adults, these students are facing some serious time in Ohio’s Department of Youth Services. The minimum penalty is six months in custody. The maximum is until they reach the age of 21.
That means if they are found guilty soon, they will miss out on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day.
And maybe they will get to say good bye to their friends and will end up in an alternative school since they will get kicked out of their current school.
And while the public will never know their names since juvenile offender records are sealed, their peers will know. Their families will know. They will know.
Most offenders can’t give a good reason for their threat. In most cases, they try to say it was just a prank or they wanted the day off from school.
The fear that every parent, every member of the school staff, every officer that has to investigate these threats don’t feel like it is a funny prank.
We call on all parents and guardians to sit down their children and tell them how dumb a school threat is.
Tell them in no uncertain terms that it is not right and how long they could spend in a juvenile detention facility.
Repeat it until they get it.
It is better to make them mad at you for a day than to visit them in prison.