The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect everyone with no end in sight. Even in these frightening times, it is important for schools to remain secure. However, for Montgomery County Public Schools, that might not always be the case, as we shall see.
School Closures
Schools were officially closed on March 25. Most of the reported break-ins happened between March 1 and April 16, which indicates that the mandated school closures due to the pandemic have provided an opportunity for bored teenagers to break in on a dare for a bit of fun. The break-ins typically manifest as vandalism and burglaries. However, county authorities have not been totally idle in response to incidents such as these, and that is mainly due to some of the technology already in place in the affected schools.
Responses
Because of the presence of security cameras and motion sensors, Montgomery County police were able to respond much more quickly to these incidents than expected. Some of the incidents, for example, include broken windows and broken vending machines along with vandalisms. It’s all an unfortunate mix, according to officials. Other charges have included theft, burglary, trespassing, and destruction of property. Some of the factors going into how heavily the police plan on pursuing these cases depends on the age of the offender, along with what they meant to do and how much destruction to school property that they caused.
The Bottom Line
So far, it has been seen that the bottom line is that this behavior is unacceptable. Police are urging citizens to do something constructive rather than destructive. Other relevant complaints include people breaking into athletic fields, which does not sound as bad as the crimes and misdemeanors listed above except that locks are being broken and signs stating the fields are closed are being pulled down, both of which are in violation of laws and regulations put in place to help enforce social distancing guidelines. The point of these break-ins is for a more innocent reason – mainly to exercise. Since the police know about these gatherings, they will now respond whenever any of them occur. Sometimes teens were breaking in just to play on the fields, which also violates social distancing guidelines.
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