Hopewell News

Early Saturday afternoon, Hopewell’s Chief of Police, Steven Martin, spoke at a gathering of Neighborhood Watch leaders, concerned citizens, volunteers and Mayor Brenda Pelham at the Appomattox Regional Library System’s headquarters.
After a brief introduction by the mayor, Chief Martin spoke about several topics concerning crime in Hopewell.
Curfew for juveniles was first on the list, as a lot of theft, burglary and vandalism are caused by minors staying out too late.
Martin began, “One of the things that [city] council did for us was to enhance our curfew ordnance, and that’s going to help tremendously.” What was in existence before had been a confusing system in which children 16 and below could be out until 10 p.m., while children aged 17 could be out until midnight.
“Well guess what,” said Martin, “everybody was either 17 or 18; and, how do we prove that?”
Further, he explained, there had been a stipulation that children could stay out longer as long as they were with an adult. “There are a lot of 18 year-olds that have 16 year-old friends,” said Martin.
With the aid of City Council, the curfew ordnance has been enhanced. Now, any adult with a minor after curfew must be a parent or a guardian. And everybody under 18 years-old must now be in by 11 p.m.
“We gave the younger ones an hour, and we took one from the older ones. At 11 o’clock, everyone has to be with a parent [or guardian] or at home. And, we’re going to enforce that and use that at every opportunity we get.”
However, having a solid curfew to assist officers in policing Hopewell streets at night is only half the battle. Martin stated that the police are not just interested in catching kids on the street “being bad.” Something must be done to direct them away from that behavior in the first place. That is where the Police Activities Leagues (PALS) program comes into play.
PALS is a program geared toward incorporating and providing positive activities for Hopewell’s youths. Kids are signed up as “PAL Kids,” with a goal in mind that they are to, at the very least, graduate from high school.
Said Martin, “Incorporated and graduating means that, number one, you live; number two, you don’t get involved in activities that will take you out of the community.
“It’s a great thing to be PALS because we’re going to provide wonderful, meaningful activities for the youth.” He continued by stating that there are other organizations and programs besides PALS that are also providing quality activities for youths.
“We want to push those kids towards as many of those activities as possible, because when 11 o’clock comes, they’re in the bed. They’re tired.”
Martin also pointed out that PALS does not want to simply state, “Here are all the activities we have.” He said that PALS is all about having the kids involved and telling what they would like to do. “Then, as a group of adults, we can facilitate those things that they want to do, and then they’ll really be involved.”
One of the attending citizens commented about the importance of parental involvement at home in educating their children and deterring them from being “on the street and becoming involved with activities not conducive to being a good citizen.”
Government and police, however, cannot intrude into a home unless the situation has crossed into the illegal, and by then it is too late for programs such as PALS. Therefore, how can parents be encouraged to participate?
Martin said, “We are looking at it. One of the things we don’t want to say is, ‘Drop the kids off at PALS.’ We want to say, ‘Bring them to PALS.’” The goal in mind is to involve the parents in PALS programs. Martin said that there are enough PALS directors, but when there is a gym filled with hundreds of kids, the participation of parents is important. There would be PALS kids as well as PALS parents.
While the curfew ordnance is in place to keep youths off the streets after 11 p.m., and PALS is there to provide a meaningful outlet for youthful energy, police have another initiative to deter juveniles who slipped through the cracks.
Yet there may always be those few who have broken curfew, are not participating in the PALS program, and still decide to engage in illegal activity.
Much of this activity involves vehicle larceny. In fact, as Martin pointed out, there were forty more incidents of vehicle larceny this past January than the year before.
“One of the easiest initiatives that we made for our officers,” said Martin, “was for officers out on patrol not currently taking a report or answering a call, to park the car and walk [down the street] just like the guy who would break into those cars.” Basically, the strategy is for the officer to look at the street through the eyes of the criminal, looking for obvious targets of burglary.
“We’re knocking on your doors and telling you to put that stuff in the trunk or take it in the house or lock your car,” said Martin.
Statistics and criminal interviews have proven that most thieves go for the easiest targets. Blatantly placed valuables easily visible through vehicle windows at night are too tempting for criminals, and the increase in vehicle larceny in Hopewell proves it.
Martin said, “So take that GPS out of the car. Don’t leave purses even if you’re just running in really quick.”
Hopewell police are engaging crime on several fronts by enforcing a more solid curfew, by providing meaningful activities for youths, and by removing temptation from vehicles for those who have decided to break curfew.
The Mayor, City Council, police department, police volunteers, neighborhood watches and concerned citizens have banded together in a multi-faceted effort against crime at several key stages to make Hopewell a safer place for everyone.