River Trails Homeowners Association

The kids that are hanging out at the corner of Thames and Saranac are out and about until very late hours. (weekends) It is worse in the summer, (which is quickly approaching), and kids will be out of school. Many have gotten into mischief. Kids will be kids but not when it gets out of control.

There is also a new group of kids who play in the middle of the street on Creede Trail and Thames Trail. Cars zoom by and run the stop signs most of the time. I am dreading the day one of these kids gets hit by a car.

There is no parent supervison. We need these parents to be more aware of where their kids are; especially when they are playing in the middle of these two streets.

Perhaps the NPO can drive by in the afternoon and talk to these kids and their parents.

Is he available in the evening when these problems arise? 

I'm getting tired of it myself.  Many times I had to stop my car because the kids will not get out of the street.  The street is not a playground.  Play in the backyards, that is what they are for.  If this keeps up, I will call the police myself.  Enough is enough.  Parents do your job.

Also, people, please park your cars in your garage or your driveway.  That doesn't mean over the sidewalk.  There is an ordinance against that.  Other neighbors have to walk out in the street to go around your car.  If you have too many cars, clean out your garage or make other arrangements.  Also, do not park by the mailboxes or the fire hydrants.  It's all just common sense. 

The Police have been called and it took an hour for them to respond after a water bottle was thrown at my Mom and Dads front door(yes it had water in it).  They have also had their solar lights yanked up and crushed and left broken on the porch.  The Policemans response..."well what do you want me to do about it, I'm not gonna threaten them"  when he was asked to talk to their parents, he said "NO" there were proabably 10-15 kids ages 11-17 and even after the Police arrived not a single parent came out of the house.  I then asked if he would at least go talk to the kids and he said (flipantly) I guess.  He walked across the street and it wasn't long before they (Young Officer included) were having a grand time, laughing and joking.  The Officer then implied there's no harm in their "activities" got in his car ready to leave when one of the boys (whose always the instigator) comes across the street and proceeds to tell the officer I cussed him...the officer got out of his car looked at me and asked if that was true.."yes he called my Mother a Liar and I said you may disrespect your Parents, but you will not disrespect mine that's a bunch of B.S. the officer then proceeded to tell me he could site me for the incident and I cannot use profainity with children....so THERE YOU GO, what a JOKE!  My parents do however, have a right to defend themselves and protect their property...steps are being taken to empower them to do just that, because the Police obviously don't care!

Is this the NPO who said this? I thought this was the whole purpose of the NPO? They are supposed to go talk to the parents; especially if kids are vandelizing and creating a lot of problems in the neighborhood.

Yikes!!! I am shocked that this is the reaction you got from these cops. This doesn't sit well with me one bit. As much of a headache as this might create for you, you need to speak to their captain. This is not acceptable for a policeman to walk away and say this to you and downplay the whole situation.

I believe these inept cops were not doing their job and behaved very  unprofessionaly. It made you look bad and it appears these kids got the last laugh. They should have made the parents come outside and speak to them. They should have told the parents that their kids could be cited for destroying property and tresspassing.

This was not handled properly. You need to document all this and speak to their captain.

If the police department can handle this, then I say call the city manager ASAP and they will direct you to the right person to take care of this matter.

Please keep me posted. I am very interested in finding out if the police department handles this matter in a more efficient and professional manner. 

I know a police officer in a different city. The law is the law. I will talk to him tomorrow if I see him, and I will ask how a matter like this should have been handled.