An item in the South Delta Crime Beat, a weekly feature provided to the Optimist by Delta police, caught my eye this week – and not in a good way.
The file, which took place just before 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 30 in Tsawwassen, involved an employee of a nearby establishment on 56th St. calling police to report a group of youths skateboarding under a covered shelter of a shopping complex.
When officers arrived, they spoke to one of the youths who apologized and took responsibility on behalf of the group and explained that he and his friends were trying to find a dry place to film skateboarding videos. Police explained that the noise of skateboard wheels on concrete was disturbing to patrons in the area.
The youths were not vandalizing property, yelling or using profanity, they were simply trying to stay dry and out of the rain while filming skateboard videos and having some fun.
Now I don’t blame police for attending the call. DPD has a well-documented “no call too small” policy, but calling police to rat on some kids just trying to have some fun? I can’t imagine that the “noise” they were making would cause such a disturbance that would necessitate such a reaction from this person.
This situation got me thinking a bit more on how tough the COVID-19 pandemic has been on all of us, especially our youth.
No grad activities, virtually no extra-curricular activities like sports, drama, music trips or live theatre and limited opportunities to socialize, reserved to Zoom calls only in most cases. I’m sure there are more examples, but you get the picture.
The next time you see a group of teens outside, trying to have some fun, maybe think twice before you call the police.
