Samaha CJ 7e
Chapter 6
Should kids report their parents to the police?
Police Chief James Gilway teaches a DARE class at Searsport Elementary School in Maine. One day, he asked the 11-year-olds if they knew anyone who used drugs. A few of the students raised their hands, but Crystal Grendell did not. Gilway did not ask for the names, and the discussion turned to handling the pressure to experiment with drugs at parties. He did encourage students to talk to him privately outside class about anything that was bothering them. A few days later, Crystal went to the police station. She eventually told Chief Gilway that her parents kept marijuana plants and smoked marijuana.
According to Gilway, Crystal volunteered the information. “This is a good little girl just thinking of her family.” He denied that the conversation had anything to do with DARE. Crystal claimed she wanted her parents to stop smoking marijuana, although she did not tell them that. She also said that Chief Gilway pressed her for details and promised her “nothing would happen to my parents.” Gilway disputes this.
DARE is a highly popular community-oriented police anti-drug effort. Virtually every large police department and many smaller ones have a DARE program, and anecdotes from these programs support its effectiveness. However, a wide range of evaluations have indicated that the results are decidedly more mixed.
The next day, Chief Gilway and two state drug agents interviewed Crystal for about an hour at school.
That afternoon, two Searsport police officers and four drug agents converged on the Grendell home. The police took Crystal’s 8-year-old sister, who was alone in the house, to the neighbors. A few minutes later, a police car took Crystal to another town, where she was hidden by the police. Gilway says the police were only baby-sitting Crystal to prevent possible abuse. Inside the house, police confiscated the marijuana plants. If allowed to grow to their full height, the plants could have produced one ounce of smokeable marijuana.
The police arrested Crystal’s parents for growing 49 marijuana plants in their bedroom. Mrs. Grendell was fired from her job, although the charges against her were dropped. Mr. Grendell pleaded guilty to growing marijuana, but was not fired.
A year later, Crystal, still troubled by the incident, says, “I would never tell again. Never. Never.” Mr. and Mrs. Grendell say they hold no grudge against Crystal.
“I can’t blame Crystal for what she did. She told the truth when asked questions by authorities. That’s what I’ve always told her to do,” said her mother. The Grendells blame themselves for Crystal’s troubles. “This would never have happened if we hadn’t smoked,” said Mrs. Grendell. Both parents say they never smoked in front of their children and never went to work high. They used marijuana like other people “having a few beers.” Nevertheless, both vow they will never smoke marijuana again.
“This is the stuff of Orwellian fiction,” said Gary Peterson, head of Parents Against DARE. “This is Big Brother putting spies in our homes.” Parents Against DARE, consisting of about 20 families, questions whether the police can teach objectively about drugs.
Although the parents oppose drug use by their children, some of them smoke marijuana. The parents wonder if DARE is turning their children against them. Law enforcement officers say that students rarely tell on their parents.
Application:
Should kids report their parents to the police?