Despite repeatedly catching him stealing and crashing cars, police keep releasing the career criminal. However, his mother came forward with a jaw-dropping ultimatum to officers.
Residents of Columbus have been plagued with a rise in car theft, and law enforcement is doing little, if anything, to resolve the issue. In fact, as one local parent is showing, police may be exacerbating the problem with their handling of lawbreakers.
Tiffany Hammons has come forward to not only call out her own son’s illegal behavior but also to hold the police accountable for their part in the vicious circle. In a desperate attempt to end her child’s illicit spree, she sought out the help of the local news media to make an eye-opening plea to officers, and it’s taken the internet by storm.
While many parents of lawbreakers are demanding authorities have mercy on their children, Hammons is doing quite the opposite. Instead of asking the police to go easy on her 17-year-old son, she’s insisting that they throw the book at him, WBNS-TV reports.
“I’ve been begging and pleading — please, arrest him, lock him up, do something that’s going to make him pay for the things that he’s out here doing,” she said.
The desperate mother says her teen son won’t stop stealing cars and has only been emboldened by the city’s response. Contrary to the cry of most parents, Hammons says that police are not only failing to stop her son but are making it worse by repeatedly releasing him without penalty.
“I think him seeing that nothing is being done is giving him more of an adrenaline rush to go back out and do it again,” she said.
Hammons claims that her son has been caught stealing and damaging at least five cars. He is also driving without a license. However, each time she reports the young man’s illegal activities, she says the police give him a slap on the wrist.
“Since he’s left, that I know of, he’s crashed five cars,” she said. “I’ve reported every one I know of, and he’s still out there.”
Hammons says she has done everything she can to stop her son from adopting the criminal lifestyle, but it was all in vain. Since he is on the cusp of adulthood, she hopes the police will enforce the law before it’s too late.
“I’ve done almost everything I could and it’s turning him against me. He’s going the opposite way and doing what he wants to do, which is turning to the streets.”
In just six months, the outlet reports that 7,330 cars have been stolen in Columbus. More than half of the stolen vehicles were Kias and Hyundais. Because of the uptick, the city has called on parents to monitor their children. However, Hammons says this won’t work if police refuse to act when parents report their kids’ crimes.
“We’re trying but once they’re here and they leave again, then what? What are we supposed to do?” she asked.
Earlier that morning, three cars were reported stolen. Of those, one Hyundai had been set on fire and one Kia was wrecked and left in a pond. Just four hours later, officers responded to a call concerning a group of teens in a car near the 700 block of Thurman Avenue. When police approached, the teens rammed into their cruiser multiple times before fleeing the scene.
While Tiffany Hammons shares in the responsibility of her son’s rebellion, there comes a point at which law enforcement must step in and wield the sword. Disturbingly, this duty is being neglected, and the citizens are paying the price.
Hammons has exposed the failure of city officials to enforce laws, protect citizens, and deter crime, which are the primary reasons taxpayers fund them. The city government has a responsibility to its citizens, and it shouldn’t take parents demanding that their children be locked up as repeat offenders to make elected officials do their job.
