Police chiefs worry for their officers safety and juveniles that carry high caliber weapons
Local law enforcement are concerned with the rise of youth gun violence in the area
LOUSIVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- Local law enforcement are concerned with the rise of youth gun violence in the area; not only for the teens, but for their officers out in the field.
Juveniles have been carrying high caliber weapons and officers have been recovering them much more than they’d like to admit.
High rates of gun violence nation wide continue to raise concern with local law enforcement on how they can contain it at home. Police officers have been recovering record numbers of guns from the streets in their towns.
“We get out of the car not knowing they have these type of weapons we’re out manned and out gunned right then and there every call that we go on now it’s a surprise it surprises me,” said Beck.
Beck said in his 23 years of working in law enforcement he’s never seen young people use guns as much as they do now. Beck and Holdiness agree that it’s been a challenge to keep their teams safe as well as the juveniles they run into.
“It’s at an all time high and I don’t care if it’s in Texas, Mississippi, or New York City; the officers are jammed up when it comes to dealing with that when it comes to dealing with their safety the safety of the community and trying to educate the juveniles and the parents,” said Holdiness.
Both chiefs said their officers have to react to scenarios differently; fortunately neither have had to use force to confiscate a gun off any juveniles.
Summer presents more opportunity for kids to gather and do more, but Beck wants to get them into doing more positive activities.
“We’re doing some summer programs to help encourage them to play kick ball, baseball, or softball and we try to keep it hot on the hot spots where we know juveniles congregate and even some adults,” said Beck.
Holdiness and Beck hope that parents help do their part in helping get guns from their kids so they won’t get in trouble with law enforcement.
