Should a cop detain a child out at 4 AM?
- Thread starter garbonzo
- Start date
Some places would detain a kid and phone a parent to pick them up. The lesson isn't so much for the kid in this instance, but more about the parent keeping an eye on their child.
sculptor
Valued Senior Member
curious that
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seriously, at 16, I had a full time job, often working until 2am, then into town to grab a bite to eat, then home.
16 ain't exactly a "child"
for some, 16 is young adult
for some, 16 may still be child
Bells
Staff member
It depends on what she was doing out at 4am.
If she was just out, loitering and drinking, etc, then yes, they can detain her depending on the laws of the State/country/county you live in. Usually, as Stryder pointed out, they will call the parents or even drive them home and knock on the door and speak to the parents or guardians of the child involved. But it all depends on what she was doing out at that time of the morning.
Personally speaking, I'd be pretty rank if I found out my kids were out at that time of the morning.. If they are delivering papers, sure, in which case they'd be doing it with my following them in my car. Other than for work reasons (and for that, they would not be walking down the street by themselves, because really, in this day and age, I wouldn't trust that some pervert would not do something to them), they shouldn't really be walking around the street. Just my view on it, anyway.
If she was just out, loitering and drinking, etc, then yes, they can detain her depending on the laws of the State/country/county you live in. Usually, as Stryder pointed out, they will call the parents or even drive them home and knock on the door and speak to the parents or guardians of the child involved. But it all depends on what she was doing out at that time of the morning.
Personally speaking, I'd be pretty rank if I found out my kids were out at that time of the morning.. If they are delivering papers, sure, in which case they'd be doing it with my following them in my car. Other than for work reasons (and for that, they would not be walking down the street by themselves, because really, in this day and age, I wouldn't trust that some pervert would not do something to them), they shouldn't really be walking around the street. Just my view on it, anyway.
sculptor
Valued Senior Member
My own guess as to why a 16 year old woman would be out at 4 am aside:
Yeh, knowing what she was about, contacting her parents, giving her a ride home, all good reflex actions.
garbonzo: What "city" are you referencing?
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
If there's no curfew and she isn't doing anything illegal, then the pig has no legal right to harrass her.
I didn't start working until I was 17, but in the USA 18 is the magic age.
And the last person on earth who would be able to judge that is a cop, or any other shit-for-brains government employee!
Indeed. Almost anywhere in the USA, businesses that cater to young teenagers are simply not open after 2am. So she's likely to be sneaking into a bar. (Although in most U.S. cities nowadays, bars close at 2am. Nevada is the major exception, bars there are permitted to stay open 24/7.)
Young teenagers who are out in the wee hours have literally nowhere to go, unless their parents will let them party at home--as a practical, preferable alternative to having them out on the dark, empty streets with the hookers and the crooks.
Loitering is the usual charge the cops use to bust kids younger than 18.
If she's drinking at age 16 anywhere in the USA, she's breaking the law, so the cops have a duty to arrest her and call her parents or guardians.
I'm sad to hear that this is (apparently) a majority viewpoint in your country.
We Yanks tend to think of Australia nostalgically: us, 100 years ago. In 1914 it was considerably safer for a child to walk the streets in the wee hours than it is today--or at least as we're told it was yesterday and today. I have yet to see any statistics indicating an epidemic of children being snatched or assaulted in the pre-dawn hours in this country. The exceptions are hard-core inner-city neighborhoods like Washington or Chicago, where the teenagers form street gangs and shoot each other.