Most of us would not have thought Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell had a whole lot in common with former First Ladies Nancy Reagan and Melania Trump — besides being Republican.
Then, Mitchell held a press conference at which she introduced a campaign supposedly designed to reduce teen violence by getting young people to be less self-centered and more socially responsible.
It’s called “Report, Don’t Repost.”
Like Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign and Melania Trump’s campaign against cyberbullying called “Be Best,” Mitchell's campaign is a lame attempt by well-meaning grown-ups to get teens to do the right thing.
Violent crime among teens is up
The idea behind “Report, Don’t Repost” is to encourage teens who witness teen violence to call the police instead of filming a brutal free-for-all and sharing the video on social media . Which, sadly, has become all too common.
So, the authorities came up with “Report, Don’t Repost.”
To which I imagine young people would respond: OK, Boomer. (And, yes, I’ve had that said to me.)
Mitchell reported a significant increase in violence perpetrated by juveniles of late.
“The number of teenagers and juveniles referred for prosecution is going up, with the increase occurring primarily in violent crimes,” Mitchell said.
It’s also true that law enforcement and prosecutors seem to have been ill prepared to deal with some of it.
Police haven't handled 'Gilbert Goons' well
We’ve seen evidence of that in the East Valley assaults tied to the hybrid street gang of mostly white, upper-middle-class teenagers known as the “Gilbert Goons.” They ruthlessly attacked other teens and posted photos and videos of their attacks on social media.
The Arizona Republic first published an analysis of more than a dozen videos posted on social media tying the Goons to attacks, including the fatal beating of 16-year-old Preston Lord in Queen Creek.
Most recently, the paper also reported a rash of vandalism and crimes by young people— one of which included burning down a barn in the Morrison Ranch area of Gilbert — with residents saying their neighborhoods haven’t gotten the response they’d hope for.
First the Goons, then arson: Can't anyone get teens in line?
In a statement Mitchell said, “When a video shows up online or on social, all we know is what we can see. We may not have the names of the people in the video or know where the fight occurred. We also may not know what happened just before or after the video begins and ends. It makes it infinitely harder for police to investigate and for my lawyers to prosecute.”
Why not focus on these teens' parents?
Then again, kids aren’t posting such videos to assist law enforcement. They’re doing it for fun.
They get a kick out of posting them and a kick out of watching them. Which speaks to just how clearly the root of the problem isn’t only the young people involved but their parents.
Where the hell are they?
What lessons about civic responsibility, common decency and doing what’s right did they fail to pass on?
How closely — if at all — are they monitoring where and with whom their kids hang out? And their social media accounts?
And if asking questions like that seems a little old fashioned, well, I’m OK Boomer with that.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com .
For more opinions content, please subscribe .
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: If you think a social media campaign will stop the 'Gilbert Goons,' you're too old
Local News
