Young teen steals Atlanta police vehicle
Atlanta police say 14-year-old allegedly caught with a stolen police car
Atlanta police say that an alleged 14-year-old was caught with a stolen police vehicle, but was taken into custody without incident. Atlanta Police Interim Chief Darin Schierbaum spoke with city commissioners to discuss how frequently authorities see young teens drive up incidents of auto-crime.
ATLANTA - Authorities say a young teen stole a police vehicle from a parking garage.
The 14-year-old was found not long after and a short distance from that parking deck.
He was in the Atlanta Police Department car. Because of his age, police drove the boy home.
His case highlights a shift that is disturbing. Boys between the ages of 13 to 15 are increasingly committing crimes.
Darin Schierbaum, the interim APD chief, recently briefed city council members about the arrests of 15-year-old boys that investigators linked to more than fifty car crimes.
Atlanta leaders say there is a hole in the criminal justice procedures for this age group.
For most crimes, including felonies, officers are left with no choice but to deliver the offenders back to their neighborhoods.
Michael Bond, a councilman, says flatly a juvenile point system that is supposed to guide how to treat a juvenile "just doesn't work".