BRATTLEBORO — The streets of Brattleboro are never vacant at any point in the day; in this small town, they serve as a second home and hangout for many local teens and young adults.
“When we throw a net, you will catch some innocent ones. The problem is, we're getting the complaints at the police department. We're looking for a courteous interaction,” says police chief Eugene Wrinn.
Responding to complaints from downtown merchants, the police department began a high-profile crackdown on loitering this summer, drawing complaints from many young people who say they feel harassed by police policy.
Could it be that locals are just taking the recent concentrated effort too personally? Or are officials really taking their job too far?
“We proceeded to play Hacky Sack on the pathway. While we were doing so, a man walked by us,” one 17-year-old local, Kyle Tansley, said. “The cops came out of their car, pointed to the man and said 'You see that man? That man had to walk around you guys, you're blocking the pathway. You'd better go do that somewhere else'."
Kyle then explained that earlier that day the police had given him a warning because they “caught” one of his friends skateboarding in a public place with his skateboard and had video footage of him skating somewhere else downtown.
“One of the biggest problems that I have with the town of Brattleboro is that the cops are always harassing the teens that hang out around town,” Vanessa Cayton, another 17-year-old downtown local, says.
“They are always telling us to move because we can't sit in certain places and that kids can't skateboard around town, and personally, I think that it is ridiculous because there is nowhere in town where kids can hang and the cops won't bother them,” she says.
Others have mentioned that it's frustrating that Brattleboro spent so much money on a four-level parking garage instead of creating a venue where teenagers can spend their time.
They say they've been hearing about kids hanging around and loitering for so long, and never - even before the parking garage was built in the past decade- had they heard a local complaining about no place to park.
“Skateboarding should not be looked at as illegal when there's a lot worse illegal [activities] to focus on. It's just a waste of time for cops to pay so much attention, and try to get skateboarders in trouble,” says Ethan Haddad, another youth.
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On the other hand, when businesses complain about kids sitting on their front steps, or standing in large groups outside of their stores, the police do what they can.
“We were down there for a long time, very, very courteous, requesting voluntary cooperation: 'Let's move along. Don't leave your cigarette butts here. Don't leave your trash here.' As a business owner, they shouldn't have to come to work and clean up beer cans and cigarette butts in front of their business every day. And that's what we're dealing with,” explains Wrinn.
Emma Majonen, an 18-year-old Guilford resident, summarizes a recent visit from Wrinn, who talked to area teens about the situation downtown regarding loitering and skateboarding.
“He gave us the police point of view of the situation and stressed that it really came down to mutual respect and agreed that both sides need to work on that. He also gave us an overview of what it takes to become an officer in Brattleboro,” she said.
“The police are not going to be proactively enforcing any type of loitering laws, but will be enforcing the state law of disorderly conduct,” Wrinn said earlier this summer [The Commons, July].
Wrinn explained that officers are stopping cars and checking who's in them to see what's going on. “We are enforcing underage drinking and smoking, but again - that's the law,” Wrinn said.
Wrinn claims skateboarding to be a public safety risk, but when asked their opinion on that statement, the teens speak up.
“Skateboarding in public is no more dangerous than someone biking in public,” says Margaret Weinberg.