COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — Police in one community plan to saturate a subdivision after neighbors started complaining about bands of teenagers roaming the streets after dark.
"We're going to have a saturated, concentrated patrol in that neighborhood," said Grantville police Chief Franklin Allen.
The Coweta County neighbors complained that the teens roam the area after dark and cut through people's back yards. When residents try to stop them, some said the teens become disrespectful and taunt or threaten them.
"It's progressed," said Marshall Burdette, a resident of the Ivy Glen subdivision. "It's been just a lot of people roaming the streets at night, you know. Kids shouldn't be doing that. Not that late."
Neighbors also worry that, once school lets out, the teens will start breaking into or vandalizing foreclosed homes in the subdivision. Ivy Glen was hit hard by the foreclosure crisis and empty homes dot the neighborhood.
The economy is making the situation worse in other ways, too. Too few teens are able to find summer jobs so they're wandering the streets looking for something to do.
"There's not a lot of activity for the kids to do after hours, " said Allen. "And you know, idle hands make for the devil's play."
Allen said they'll concentrate patrols in Ivy Glen and pick up anyone violating the state and city curfew. No one under 16 years old is allowed on the streets, without a good reason, after 11 p.m. from Sunday through Thursday and after midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Allen said his officers will take curfew violators home with a warning for the parents, but repeat offenders will wind up in juvenile court.
Reginald McGinty told Channel 2 Action News reporter Richard Elliot that his teenage son was involved in one altercation but believes a neighbor instigated it. Still, he supports extra patrols so long as they're conducted fairly.
"I agree with anything to do with the neighborhood to make it right," he said, "but do it fairly."