Headed for Trouble - Review

I'm dr. Sydney workman associate director of the department of psychiatry Children's Hospital of Washington DC with me are representatives of several police departments all of us are concerned with juvenile delinquency and would like to begin the discussion of the film headed for trouble officer Duvall what did you think of the handling of dane parish in the film well I noticed when he walked in the soda shop there and told Jane Parris that he was going to take her to headquarters everything he took her ID putting the current took it took on down to headquarters but I've noticed that a lot of police departments this is not allowed to have a woman in the car with a uniformed man unless there is a woman policeman along or transported by a woman policeman ideally a female whether an adult or juvenile should not be transported alone especially was one male officer even with two if at all possible the services of a police woman or a matron should be secured sometimes that is impossible because of lack of personnel or transportation facilities but if it can be done it should be done well this girl wasn't arrested we just say officer Duvall she wasn't wasn't placed under arrest now she thought her arrest no she wasn't that arrested but she was picked up on a complaint her mother is that correct that's correct well do you think the police officer was justified and tighten around none of those conditions so he goes to this she wasn't violating in the low at the moment question no but she had been thrown in as a missing person and I feel dear please loss that every right to go and take her out of that sort of shop one of the main questions is what we can do with youngsters like this in a helpful way we have to remember that usually when we see these girls girls in particular where they're in emergency situations if we can sit down and talk with the girls in their parents we can refer them to the proper social agencies who deal with them in an extensive way manner in which we do not have time or the person helps deal we refer them to the characters other social agencies religious organizations churches anything that's indicated by the particular problem now one of the important things is being able to know what other agencies in the community you have available to you that's true and what hours are open doctor I would like to bring out at one point here where the officer arrested that boy for the stolen car too many times a young police officer and it makes his arrest he is excited and he's got to learn to control this excitement when he makes an arrest because sometimes excitement will cause his prisoner especially if it is a juvenile to do something drastic which he wouldn't ordinarily do of course this comes with experience and this experience is what's needed for a person who's going to be a juvenile officer later on and once he has controlled himself to that and controlled his emotions then he's stable and able to become a good juvenile officer that's very true but here he's just apprehended this ladder the stolen automobile try to outrun him and the police office had not expected tip his hat to him when he comes up to him it's not personal with the police officer and this chased this man could very easily have killed some innocent persons the police officers mindful of that and and he certainly has to be prepared when he comes up to make an arrest of such an individual well I noticed in this film that this officer was unable to secure any information from this boy I feel that have you used her another approach or may have told him a little in the film what kind of approach and did you mean well you can be firm with a juvenile and still not make him feel like he's being pushed around use the different tone of voice they know that you mean business but they know that you're there to help him not to hurt him in any way and that's what a new uniformed officer will learn if they have close cooperation between the uniform and the plainclothes force just like this picture showed us here this juvenile officer came back and explained to the arresting officer that as the man was in uniform what happened to the boy and he explained to him why he did certain things and that has a tendency to make a better working relationship and show this officer certain things that he can do while he's walking his beat or driving he's police patrol car do any of us think there should be a difference in the way a uniformed officer handles a juvenile against the way a plainclothesman should handle it he spoke with uniformed officers and not plainclothes officers shouldn't we clarify that a bit by saying this plainclothes officer is a juvenile off set and has been trained in the howling of juveniles under such situations it's not just an ordinary plainclothes officer but regular detective he's a trained juvenile officer when I feel that the actions of a uniformed policeman first mantle and scene when placing a juvenile under arrest when I have a big bang on the way that juveniles gonna act no matter whether you're in your father will you answer closed because most juveniles nowadays that I brought first will find that you're a policeman the matter with you in uniform your uniform and you're there for one purpose and that's to get a conviction so they feel that uniform or not if they're treated right let me tell you what you want to know push him around and I can tell you things going now to John the violent boy I wonder what any of you thought about the handling of him both before he got to jail and afterward well from John's actions apparently prior to the rest of the fleet appearance the police seized assaulted the lad with a bottle he was in the violence stage there was nothing else the police could do but to restrain him and use the necessary force to convey him to the place of security this frequently brings on complaints of use and unnecessary force against the juvenile but in this instance I think the police were perfectly justified and using the amount of force that they did to convey this John to the lockup I feel the same as the captain that in the show there while he was talking to the detective he stayed that he had swung at one of the officers but were out there to arrest people when they violate the law and we're not there to take beatings and when you take a man in you take him in whatever force is necessary but there again you had a good professional approach in the youth of the juvenile man coming in quiet and calm and going to explore the case and a businesslike and dignified manner well I see that that time is up I know that there are many more things that we could discuss today we haven't had a chance to talk about the juvenile court about probation about community relations about the many other aspects of this film and the work with juvenile delinquents we hope though that you in the audience will continue the discussion that we've started [Music]