By HEATHER CATHLEEN COX
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
Of 836 overall crimes reported in San Benito from the months of January through June 2014, 64.96 percent were allegedly committed by individuals under the age of 25, San Benito Police Department statistics have shown.
SBPD reports show that from Jan. 1 to June 30, crimes allegedly committed by male juveniles under the age of 17 totaled 18.66 percent of overall activity in San Benito. Crimes allegedly committed by female juveniles totaled 9.33 percent of overall activity. Offenses allegedly committed by males ages 18-25 totaled 27.87 percent of overall crimes; and offenses involving females ages 18-25 totaled 9.1 percent of the overall number. SBPD Assistant Operations Chief Michael Galvan explained that criminal activity by minors typically rises during the summer months. But San Benito is not the only city with reported hikes in criminal activity during summer months, according to Galvan.
Galvan said, “I don’t know what’s driving this, but if you check with Harlingen, they have a huge problem. Primera and Palm Valley in the past month alone have seen a spike (in criminal activity).”
Locally, recent crimes include five individuals suspected in organized crime being apprehended by SBPD officers on July 17; the suspects’ ages range from 19 to 23. The suspects are specifically accused of stealing several new phones as well as well as U.S. currency from a business in San Benito.
Criminal investigators proceeded to follow several leads obtained at the scene, and the following arrests were made: Jesus Jimenez, 19; Kassandra Flores, 23; Xavier Alvarado, 22; Alejandro Garza, 23; and Joann Rivera, 22. Charges for the individuals included burglary of a building and engaging in organized criminal activity, and Rivera was separately charged with resisting arrest and assault on a peace officer after she allegedly kicked an officer.
On July 7, officers apprehended and arrested 17-year-old Abram Ali Barron and 18-year-old Alfredo Peña after a Stripes Convenience Store clerk advised police the juveniles were attempting to make purchases with a credit card that did not belong to them.
Through investigation, SBPD discovered that the card had been used to make several purchases at different locations, including the rental of a local hotel room. Inside the hotel room, investigators located items that had been reported stolen in a burglary of a motor vehicle, and Barron and Peña were ultimately charged with eight counts of credit card abuse and burglary of a motor vehicle.
Right now (summertime), typically we see ages between 17-19 are getting into more trouble,” said Galvan. “Typically, when they’re occupied in school, they’re not doing as much (crime) city-wide. Once they’re out for summer, they have no supervision. The parents are working, they’re not in school being watched by teachers, and their tendency to do crime goes up.”
“That’s the normal trend,” said Precinct 3, Place 2 Justice of the Peace David Garza. “The fact remains that the kids are out (of school), and the trend normally is there is more criminal activity during this time period.”
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This is exactly the kind of news that will continue to drive good citizens and families away.
Just perfect!
Why hide the truth? By not making this problem aware to the city, it just shows negligence in dealing with real problems that do cause people to avoid this town. The sooner people realize this is a problem (and more importantly, begin coming up with possible solutions), the better it is for the town, the citizens, business, etc.
Searaven: While you have presented some valid reasons on the decline of our youth’s morals, let’s take a step back and “bite the bullet” with the truth–parental guidance and supervision has diminished over the past generations, eroding the respect our youth has for parental and social authority. Parents used to be held responsible for their childrens’ actions and behavior. Now, we blame the school system for failing to “educate” them. Since when did we shift our parental responsibilities of educating our youth to the schools? Regrettably, what kind of supervision can you expect from parents with little or no education, with no ambition to further themselves, with no immediate hope of raising their quality of life, with total dependence on government assistance . . . truth hurts, doesn’t it?
Parents used to be parents, now we have parent, single moms and dads that are trying to provide in this economical depressed time. The school had a bouncing baby program that was 90+% successful until it was cut, and the after school program only concentrated on Chess and was run by college people not teachers. It is a community problem and we need to work together for the good of all. Education is important for all to escape this cycle of finger pointing. Together all things are possible, it is not the students fault…….just saying
Not to mention, a police department who doesn’t take a proactive approach to educating our youth about the consequences of partaking in any criminal activity. They rarely have crime prevention programs at our public schools.
The percentage is probably higher. There are no programs for the youth. No swimming pool, no good library, low funding for Boys and Girls club and School Trustees worried about making money from programs they want passed. Graduates have problems getting jobs and what about the ones that didn’t graduate. There is a need for good leadership at both entities. Wake up people, it only gonna get worse.