Police cite sixth-grade girl for trespassing after taking shortcuts to bus stop

Was the girl vandalizing property? No. Was the girl tearing up flower beds or spray painting on the sides of houses? No. The only crime this girl commited was taking a short cut through some property to get to her bus stop.

WEST HARWICH, Mass. (AP) — Police in Massachusetts served a sixth-grader with no-trespass orders after neighbors grew wary of the girl cutting through their properties to get to and from her school bus stop.

The mother of 11-year-old Autumn Blanchard told the Cape Cod Times her daughter received three pink no-trespass notices from the Harwich Police Department on March 2. Krystal Blanchard said she was unaware neighbors had an issue until the police arrived at her door. She questioned why she wasn’t informed by the neighbors or school officials, who also knew about the problem.

“I am beyond distressed by this situation,” she said. “I can’t imagine why it had to go to this level. Someone should have spoken to me.”

Police cite sixth-grade girl for trespassing after taking shortcuts to bus stop


Maybe it's a case of the police just being forced to do their job. Maybe it's a case of the neighbors being completely off their rocker. Who knows. But is the world really coming down to be a place where a child can't cut through a yard to go to school? I mean seriously? Even worse, is it now a place where police have to actually cite a child for doing the exact same thing likely most of us did as a child?

What the hell is wrong with the world today?

a reply to: EternalSolace

Yeah.

For me it was, "Hey, kid! Stay out of my yard!"
Not that I paid much attention.

a reply to: Phage

Ringing your door bell and running, sure. Painting your dog purple and lighting a flaming bag of poo on your door step, sure.

But for just going to school?

No...

Wasn't there just a thread about a homeowner saying "get off my lawn", to school kids, that ended up poorly?

the child had been told not to trespass - but continued to do so -

a reply to: ignorant_ape
So did I. As I recall.

Kids (and some entire cultures) don't really get the idea of private property.

Sad as it is, the land owners have the right to be this petty if they so choose.

Use a longer route. People are arses. Lesson learned.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

That is the claim. Still they should have discussed with the mother.

a reply to: EternalSolace

This is ridiculous, as the mother said why was she not contacted first.

What the hell is wrong with people

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

as the mother said why was she not contacted first.

Because they are neighbors. Of course.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: ignorant_ape
So did I. As I recall.

Kids (and some entire cultures) don't really get the idea of private property.

And I wonder how many kids from my and generations older cut through a yard to get somewhere...

If I were that cop, that kid would get a front seat ticket to my cruiser and permission to use the siren in front of the complainants property as I drove them to school...

If I was a child living in 2017 i'd carry mace, and if a mofo tried coming at me, it would be the last thing they saw before losing their gonads.

a reply to: Neith

yeah. well.

That sucks.

a reply to: Phage

It would suck more if it were you and i showed up in my time machine. hehe.

As a householder, I fully understand that casual trespass is irritating.
But under English law, trespass is normally a civil offence, not a criminal one. The most we're allowed to do with trespassers is escort them off the property, using no more than "reasonable force". In other words, we're not allowed to shoot them or even set physical traps for them.
I remember as a child nervously picnicking under a "Trespassers will be prosecuted" sign, while our father assured us that all we had to do was offer the farmer sixpence in payment if he discovered us.
So i'm bemused to see in this case that police intervention is even possible.

originally posted by: EternalSolace
What the hell is wrong with the world today?

Sounds like good thinking on the police's part. What if she were to take a stroll through a child molesters property?

originally posted by: Miracula2

originally posted by: EternalSolace
What the hell is wrong with the world today?

Sounds like good thinking on the police's part. What if she were to take a stroll through a child molesters property?

Good thinking. Heaven forbid she was molested by a tree branch on the way to school. Sue the kid!

i think it has more to do with the fear instilled in people from cases they see far to often on the 8 oclock news. too often u see where someone tries to step in and let someone know and it escalates to an obscene level. u might get sued or catch a beating, u just dont know. better to just call the authorities and let them take care of it

originally posted by: DISRAELI
As a householder, I fully understand that casual trespass is irritating.
But under English law, trespass is normally a civil offence, not a criminal one. The most we're allowed to do with trespassers is escort them off the property, using no more than "reasonable force". In other words, we're not allowed to shoot them or even set physical traps for them.
I remember as a child nervously picnicking under a "Trespassers will be prosecuted" sign, while our father assured us that all we had to do was offer the farmer sixpence in payment if he discovered us.
So i'm bemused to see in this case that police intervention is even possible.

I plan to buy my own property this coming fall. I also plan to fence it and cultivate it and do things a normal homeowner/landowner would do. That said, to go so far as do deny some child/kids a short cut to the bus stop during some cold weather... no.

Yes I want to be the old man who kids are afraid because I'm "boo radley"...

But at the same time, I'm not so petty to deprive kids a shortcut to the bus or a swimming whole, etc...