Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Boulder City Bill Speaks Out:

Committee gives young offenders a second chance

Bill Erin

Bill Erin

There are a number of excellent programs under the umbrella of the Boulder City Police Department unknown to a majority of residents. I was particularly intrigued by Boulder City's unique Juvenile Conference Committee.

This program was originated because the juvenile courts and corrective systems were overloaded with more serious crimes and, therefore, were not giving due attention to Boulder City's less serious crimes such as misdemeanors and juvenile crimes of alcohol possession, curfew violation and other non-adult criminal actions called status offenses.

To neglect these miscreants was to encourage them to continue these violations down the slippery slope to a more serious criminal life. How could Boulder City deter this behavior at its start?

The Juvenile Conference Committee was created. Under the coordination of Pat Spero, Police Chief Thomas Finn's executive assistant, for the past nine years this program has been so successful deterring eligible youngsters 8 to 18 from continuing their fledgling criminal activities that it is getting acclaim not only in Nevada, but in other jurisdictions.

Like many great ideas, it's simple enough in concept but depends on diligence and common sense in execution.

When a police officer apprehends a juvenile in a misdemeanor or status offense, such as alcohol possession, and takes the juvenile to the police station, he checks the youngster's record for prior offenses. If it is a first offense, instead of booking the youngster into the juvenile court system and creating a criminal record, he calls the parents.

He explains to the parents they have a choice. Instead of juvenile court, they can have a Juvenile Conference Committee hearing. If they give their consent, the officer turns the offender over to Spero. She convenes a hearing.

The Juvenile Conference Committee is composed entirely of volunteers from all walks of the community. There are currently 18 residents, including parents, on the committee. Spero finds three or four of them available on the date of the hearing, and they listen to the juvenile and ask questions. The panel decides what sanction to impose, from community service to just a warning and release.

They are not sent to juvenile court and they don't have a record, but they are impressed with the fact that they could have. Young offenders also are shown how that record could impede them in later life in areas such as employment.

A second violation could lead to more severe sanctions or even juvenile court. A third violation, and they are out. They are in the criminal system they previously escaped.

Spero emphasizes that follow-up is a most important key. The juveniles must understand that they can't get away scot-free. She makes sure they fulfill the sanction or they are referred back to the officer and the court system.

This program has been so successful that both Mesquite and Laughlin are in the process of instituting one based on a presentation by Spero. Even Metro has had officers come to witness a hearing, and one Metro substation is working on a Juvenile Conference Committee with Spero's assistance. Spero and Finn in 2006 went to Baltimore to present the plan to the seventh annual National Leadership Conference.

Diane Pidsosny, coordinator of the Underage Drinking Laws Program, is a big booster of the program and is promoting it wherever there is interest. In September, Spero, Finn and Pidsosny made a presentation to the Alcohol Responsibility Conference at Harrah's and have been asked to repeat it next year.

"It's a good diversion program that gives kids a chance," Spero says modestly.

It's more than that. There have to be a lot of Boulder City young folks now, out there in the real world, who are leading productive lives because of Spero and the Juvenile Conference Committee.

Bill Erin is a Boulder City News columnist.

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