Eastpointe parental ordinance must not lead to lawsuits, racial profiling
By Gregory A. Murray
The city of Eastpointe should be applauded for its efforts to reign in inappropriate and anti-social juvenile behavior through its recently adopted parental responsibility ordinance, and I encourage other municipalities such as Mount Clemens, Chesterfield Township, Clinton Township and others to do likewise.
While it will be important to ensure the ordinance is not selectively enforced or adjudicated, the focus on parental
A engagement with youth around issues of destructive behavior is spot on. The ordinance cannot force a parent to parent differently, but it does provide a great incentive for parents to sit down with and establish a set of expectations for their children that include a discussion of specific consequences associated with engaging in unruly or illegal behavior.
Some elements of the ordinance have been in place for quite some time now, such as the city’s curfew. Another aspect of the ordinance involves recognition of a parent’s responsibility to ensure supervision of their children in the parent’s absence. And the presence of drugs, illegal weapons or stolen property in the home has always been a recipe for trouble. The ordinance further provides that violating any and all of the above could warrant a judge ordering a parent to mandatory parenting classes and a hefty $500 fine.
The Eastpointe Police Department, through their on-the-street enforcement of the ordinance will make or break this opportunity to dramatically curtail juvenile rowdiness and lawlessness. All eyes will be on the police department to see if it can be trusted to implement this new tool in a manner which does not lead to lawsuits, claims of racial profiling, or political backlashes to the elected official who unanimously voted to take a courageous stand against what appears to be escalating criminal behavior.
Ideally, the courts should take a nononsense attitude regarding repeat offenders of this ordinance, but that is easy to say, given the current budgetary strain on municipal law enforcement agencies, attendant issues such as lack of jail space and a drop in family income. Yet, if ordinance offenders get the idea that the ordinance is toothless, it’s hard to imagine it having the desired and potential effect of reducing crime.
It is my hope that churches and nonprofit community groups will work with the city of Eastpointe and its police department through a coordinated community education campaign to properly engage and educate residents so that there is a clear and common understanding of what this ordinance means for parents, children and the community at large.
My firm belief is that this ordinance was aimed at destructive and criminal activity, not an ethnic group. Everyone should support uniformly enforced laws which positively impact the quality of life in our various communities. Parents have a special responsibility and opportunity to dramatically affect the social well-being of their children as well as their community. Such a partnership is a win-win for everyone.
It is not everyone else’s job to raise our children. Teachers are supposed to teach, not parent, our children. Society begins at home, and the first true lessons are learned there, or at least they should be. These days, everyone is stressed, dayto-day life is a lot more complicated, and there is never enough time in a day; but those are just facts of life, not excuses to pawn our children off on whomever we can. The police and the courts respond to crime. This ordinance confirms that parents can prevent crime. These children did not ask to be here. From inception to birth to death, we must put aside our own interests for that of our children. We should not be asking government to raise them for us. It is our job to decrease the need for government to punish them.
Gregory Murray is a community activist living in Clinton Township.
Published on the editorial page of the Macomb Daily on Tuesday, August 25, 2009.
The sub-headline is not mine and does not accurately reflect the content or substance of the column---Greg Murray
Excellent post Greg, I agree. The family is the building block of a civil society, and we must not ignore the importance of parents in our neighborhoods and communities. Keep up the good work. While we may disagree on some issues, or ways to approach them, I think we are on the same page on this topic.
ReplyDeleteParents are the most important influence in a childs life, and we need to understand that in order to address many of the problems in our society. Families, churches and community groups are where we need to focus much of our energy to resolve many of the problems in our society, not on government help.