Juvenile Crime on the Rise
By: Christy Stelzer WMBD/WYZZ Reporter
Updated: February 23, 2009
WMBD/WYZZ— Bloomington— Juvenile arrests in Bloomington were higher last year than in 2007. Interim Police Chief Randy McKinley says he is expecting the trend to continue. There were 356 juvenile arrests in 2008, which is nearly 150 more than in 2007. McKinley says he has noticed what he calls an "I don't care" attitude among the arrested teens. He says high juvenile crime is on the rise all over the country, so that is an area police patrols have been focusing on.
"We knew with this increase in juvenile calls for service and our increase in violent crimes by our youth population that we had to make a change in what we were doing, so we focused on that area,” McKinley said.
With more officers focusing on juvenile crime, officers have had less time to give out traffic citations, which were also down last year. For more statistics from the Bloomington Police 2008 Annual Report, click here.
