As a surge of violent threats disrupt area schools, the St. John Police Department is putting its foot down.
Chief of Police Paul Anderson said the department will begin to strictly enforce St. John's parental neglect code that allows officers to issue summonses to parents for the criminal actions of their children.
If guilty, parents would face fines and up to $2,000 in restitution payments to any person damaged by their child's misconduct.
"This strict approach does not come without much thought and previous attempts to control the situation by lesser means," Anderson wrote in a post on Facebook. "The City of St. John has been dealing with this seemingly losing battle for years."
St. John Police Department is one of four police departments that responded to the Ritenour School District over the past week after the district received multiple threats of violence — with one resulting in a former student's arrest on school grounds on Tuesday.
The 16-year-old has since been charged with terrorist threat in the first degree, unlawful use of a weapon and resisting arrest.
The parents were charged Thursday evening with tampering of physical evidence.
But school threats are only part of the problem, Anderson said.
Juveniles, most who don't live in St. John, Anderson said, have "absolutely zero respect" for law enforcement and have caused ruckuses throughout town. Over the past few weeks, police have encountered "almost daily" disruptions to a local shopping plaza and a McDonald's, as well as a large fight inside a Schnucks grocery store on Tuesday.
"Our residents are tired of this," Anderson said during an interview. "Our business owners are tired of this."
The unruliness has extended to school threats, Anderson said.
On Sept. 12, Ritenour High School switched to virtual learning in response to "reports of online threats overnight." Students returned to school the next day.
And throughout the St. Louis area, a flurry of other threats on social media caused some schools to go virtual or shut down this week.
In the Parkway School District on Thursday, Barretts Elementary went on lockdown after police received a 911 call that referenced a bomb and the school. Police canvassed the building and later gave an all-clear.
Also on Thursday, Acting St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Millicent Borishade said police investigated threats toward McKinley, Compton-Drew, Shenandoah, Mullanphy, Yeatman, Academy of Entrepreneurship Studies Middle, and Mason schools.
"After interviewing the juvenile involved, in the presence of their mother, it was determined that these threats were unsubstantiated," Borishade wrote.
Threats involving Lyon at Blow, Roosevelt, Long, Gateway STEM, and Central Visual and Performing Arts High schools also emerged, Borishade said. After an investigation, law enforcement, including SLMPD intelligence officers and an FBI task force, determined the threat was "not likely."
Numerous other schools in the St. Louis area have received threats over the past week as copycat threats emerged. Nearly all were determined uncredible.
Affected schools include:
- On Sept. 12, five schools in Centralia, Illinois closed after two 11-year-old students were charged with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly posting threats on social media, according to Centralia police.
- KIPP charter school said Friday all students and staff were safe after a social media threat against the school was posted online.
- Normandy Schools Collaborative said its high school was included in a social media post containing threats involving a weapon and a list of schools in the area.
- On Friday, an "implied" threat on social media against Barnwell Middle in the Francis Howell School District was determined not to be credible after the student responsible was quickly identified, according to a message to parents.
- On Tuesday, University City High School was the subject of a bomb threat posted on Instagram, the district said. The threat was discovered after school dismissal and additional security and law enforcement have been on site since then.
- Another bomb threat on Tuesday prompted the closure of Ladue Horton Watkins High.
- On Wednesday morning, a social media post threatened unspecified violence at East St. Louis Senior High. The school went on lockdown.
- The same morning, St. Louis Metropolitan Police said they were investigating a threat made to Lift for Life Academy, causing the charter to switch to e-learning.
- Premier Charter School said Wednesday its middle school principals handled a "situation" that caused the school to call on law enforcement "out of an abundance of caution and given the current landscape of the need to prioritize safety in school."
The Missouri State Highway Patrol receives tips through its Courage2Report tipline. A tip sent to the line on Tuesday is what thwarted the attempted shooter at Ritenour's Husky Academy, police said.
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