Did your teen son travel south on Wisconsin Ave in front of best buy today by bus around 6pm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're right - probably not a deal student because clubs have not started yet and they end at 4:30, which would mean a lot of loitering time. So probably a Wilson or gds student.

In any case a child who made some poor choices today. I regret not calling police so his mother could find out and talk to him.

Well GDS doesn't start until Sept. 8th so you'll probably have to rule that out.

[Anonymous]

OP we have called the police on kids doing petty vandalism in the neighborhood. They weren't always area students, but two of the three times we've had to intervene they were. These two times we have also gone up to the school (once Deal, once Wilson) to report mischief when it was clear they most likely were , and sure enough the school was able to identify them based on our description. All three times the behavior was in some way addressed. If it is criminal mischief, ie throwing rocks at cars , by all means act as long as you can do so safely . It is only a matter of time before this rock throwing ends in tragedy. If you call the police in Tenley they are there in seconds. . i think you should definitely call the police today and detail what you saw so they can be on the lookout.

[Anonymous]

If it is by best buy I am imagining there is footage which along w your description can identify the perps. Call!

[Anonymous]

Definitely call police but for PP I find it amazing that in schools of thousands you had multiple times where someone was able to identify just by your description. Come on. You believe that? They said "Oh yes, I know who that is." Then you left and and they rolled their eyes.

Yell at the kids or call the cops. Having kids at both Deal and Wilson I can tell you they tell the kids what is expected of them but the school doesn't control what happens at 6:00 on Wisc avenue. That is up to the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised you didn't see any cops-- Tenleytown is usually crawling with them.
I would have called 911 anyway. They can probably get cops there pretty quickly and/or flag the bus that the kids got on.

In my experience, most of those DC cops are inside crawling the aisles of Best Buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're right - probably not a deal student because clubs have not started yet and they end at 4:30, which would mean a lot of loitering time. So probably a Wilson or gds student.

In any case a child who made some poor choices today. I regret not calling police so his mother could find out and talk to him.

Well GDS doesn't start until Sept. 8th so you'll probably have to rule that out.

GDS students aren't back yet. They're still doing their college visits to Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Definitely call police but for PP I find it amazing that in schools of thousands you had multiple times where someone was able to identify just by your description. Come on. You believe that? They said "Oh yes, I know who that is." Then you left and and they rolled their eyes.

Yell at the kids or call the cops. Having kids at both Deal and Wilson I can tell you they tell the kids what is expected of them but the school doesn't control what happens at 6:00 on Wisc avenue. That is up to the parents.

Yell at the kids, but don't call the cops unless they don't respond. Let the village raise the child without armed intervention.

[Anonymous]

I misspoke - you are right One time we knew the kid from community associations (bad luck for the kid) and resolved it with the parents who we called. We did not know who the compadres were but since they traveled the neighborhood for years in a group it would have been easy as pie to establish that once we knew the first. However we considered the matter resolved. The second time we went to the high school with an accurate description - the security guards knew exactly who we were talking about , even had their nicknames - and we passed it along to the principal so the kids could be warned. The third time we called the police (the most serious act of vandalism). It was not a local school kid in this instant, though a young kid who made a bad choice. Speaking in generalities - we have found going to police /parents/ school or some.combination thereof to be effective. Of course we do it because we don't like nuisance crime, but also so someone - parent, school police (all they do usually is call the family with a warning) get to these children before nuisance crime escalates to crime crime. just saying to OP that I think the instinct in our society is to not get involved, or in a group, not intercede if everyone else is just walking by. Sometimes you feel guilty for doing something, when it should be the other way around. But then after you of course second guess. So saying its ok to act and its usually resolved with a warning. Hopefully enough that the kid stops and thinks the next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Definitely call police but for PP I find it amazing that in schools of thousands you had multiple times where someone was able to identify just by your description. Come on. You believe that? They said "Oh yes, I know who that is." Then you left and and they rolled their eyes.

Yell at the kids or call the cops. Having kids at both Deal and Wilson I can tell you they tell the kids what is expected of them but the school doesn't control what happens at 6:00 on Wisc avenue. That is up to the parents.

Yell at the kids, but don't call the cops unless they don't respond. Let the village raise the child without armed intervention.

The police officer behaved incredibly decently..i felt really bad for the grandma who got the call from him.that her grandchild was misbehaving. But she needed to know. We had no authority to interview the kid/make that call. At the end of the day. We are a village and the police are part of it. Dc cops are by and large a really great force. Give them.some.credit.

[Anonymous]

FFS, walk up and talk to the kids - they're kids. just walk up and say "be careful sweetie, you might hurt someone." Since when do we call the cops on a 12 year old for being careless?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FFS, walk up and talk to the kids - they're kids. just walk up and say "be careful sweetie, you might hurt someone." Since when do we call the cops on a 12 year old for being careless?

Walking with one's shoes untied and horseplay are being careless. Throwing rocks at vehicles on a busy street directly threatens the safety of drivers and pedestrians alike. It's criminal behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FFS, walk up and talk to the kids - they're kids. just walk up and say "be careful sweetie, you might hurt someone." Since when do we call the cops on a 12 year old for being careless?

I wonder what reaction you'd get. Several months ago while waiting for the crossing light to change, I stood next to a girl of high school at the corner of Wisc and Albemarle and she was loudly speaking incredible filth to someone next to her. I gently reminded her that kids (my child and some others) were also standing there, and then she really launched into obscene invective spiced with some racial references as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FFS, walk up and talk to the kids - they're kids. just walk up and say "be careful sweetie, you might hurt someone." Since when do we call the cops on a 12 year old for being careless?

I'm with this. Once I was walking on Wisconsin and some 12ish kids were kicking at pedestrians. I circled back and told them they needed to stop before they hurt someone. They got lippy and I pulled out my cell phone and offered to call the cops if they needed someone with a uniform to talk to them. They got polite FAST after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FFS, walk up and talk to the kids - they're kids. just walk up and say "be careful sweetie, you might hurt someone." Since when do we call the cops on a 12 year old for being careless?

I wonder what reaction you'd get. Several months ago while waiting for the crossing light to change, I stood next to a girl of high school at the corner of Wisc and Albemarle and she was loudly speaking incredible filth to someone next to her. I gently reminded her that kids (my child and some others) were also standing there, and then she really launched into obscene invective spiced with some racial references as well.

That's when you loudly tell your children "Guys, see? This is why we need better social support for the mentally ill. Don't you feel bad for this person? Acting like an animal in public!"

A little bit of public shaming goes a long way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I call it Chinablock since it's so dinky.

Totally!