The teens who were a problem last September during Friday Night on White have returned, Bill Crabtree, the town’s communications and public affairs director, told the Wake Forest Town Board Tuesday night.
Crabtree said he and others who had put up signs and appealed to parents to control their teens thought earlier this spring that the problem had been solved or lessened, but the most recent street concert demonstrated “the September problem is back.” The FNOW committee met, talked about the problem and decided on some further corrective actions.
First, since the Wake Forest Police Department can assign only a limited number of officers to the concerts, they have asked for help from other departments.
Franklinton and Youngsville will send three officers each to the Friday, May 10, concert and Fuquay-Varina and Apex will each send one officer. “There may be others, but those have been confirmed,” Crabtree said Wednesday.
Second, they will put pole lights in some of the poorly-lit areas in the downtown.
Third, they are considering a curfew for unaccompanied children and teens. They and others have noticed parents dropping off teens and leaving the downtown area, leading to groups of teens on the streets and in the stores during the concerts. The Gazette asked what the trigger for a curfew would be.
“As for the curfew trigger, we will closely monitor Friday night’s event, solicit observations and feedback from attending Town officials and law enforcement, then determine what, if any, further actions are warranted up to, and including, a curfew,” Crabtree said.
The exact wording for the curfew has not been settled, but it could say any unaccompanied teen, age to be supplied, could be cited for being in public after 8 p.m., or a later hour.
Crabtree began by tracing the beginning of FNOW in 2016. “It’s truly a success story.” The organizing committee was not that sure in that spring before the first concert. They had arranged for one beer truck and one token line — and were overwhelmed by the crowd who poured into White Street.
Since then they have dealt with problems such as the teen on the railroad tracks, with the continued need for more parking, and the crowds responded by giving the event high marks through the years.
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6 Responses
In the town that I recently moved from, there is plenty for teens to do in a productive way. A teen center facility, large swim center, all kinds of sports (indoor and outdoor) that kids can engage in. The increased tax revenue from the new growth could be directed towards building community activities for all ages. Parents of unsupervised kids should be part of the solution.
Hopefully the town will ban all unaccompanied teens (at all times during FNOW) and children before they kill the entire event.
We have more police than does Cary, last I heard. They need to prosecute the parents dropping them off for contributing to the delinquency of a minor for the teenagers causing the problems. Enough is enough! We were planning to go this Friday, but are not going now because of the continued mess. I hope FNOW doesn’t go the way of the Christmas Parade because of this!
If someone wants to rent a town facility and they decide to have a DJ, they have to hire an off-duty officer to be at the event. I assume the same rules apply to FNOW and the organizers of the event have to pay for them. Just a question that needs to be asked.
I guess we can add “unruly teens” to the long list of euphemisms which are used to describe the feral minorities that ruin almost every social event they show up at.
It’s time to stop pretending we are the same.
Unruly teens are exactly what they are. “Feral minorities”? What a disgusting, racist comment.