N.J. Cops Crack Down On Middle School Jaywalkers

Police Issue $54 Tickets To Kids; Principal Says Tickets Are Necessary
CBS News
Sep. 28, 2007

Video Here(CBS) TEANECK, N.J. There's a good chance you've done it -- crossing the street in the middle of the block. Well, you won't believe who's being ticketed in one New Jersey town for jaywalking.

At Thomas Jefferson Middle School there's one lesson students just can't seem to get a handle on.

The Teaneck Police Department has responded by stepping up their presence near the school. The result? Last week officers handed out jaywalking summonses to five students, one of them just 11-years-old.

The ticketed middle school students, all of them members of the predominantly African American student body at Thomas Jefferson, were then placed in the back of a patrol car and taken back to school with their summons, which carries a hefty $54 fine.

Parents are not happy.

"It just seems like another thing to bring up with the minorities in Teaneck," Victor Sdrougias said. "My kid is half black-American. That's why I moved to Teaneck. It's integrated. But there seems to be favoritism to one and not to the other."

Police deny they're ticketing based on race.

"We would put them in a squad car, drive them back to their parents or a responsible adult," Teaneck's acting Police Chief told CBS 2 HD. "In this case, the principal of Thomas Jefferson. There's no intention to traumatize anyone."

School principal Antoine Green says his staff has repeatedly warned students about the dangers of jaywalking.

"I don't want them to receive the fines, but I also understand they need to listen in terms of being on the sidewalk," Green said.

The debate isn't over. A PTA meeting was held Wednesday in which the county superintendent and county chapter of the NAACP attended. The meeting was an effort to persuade the police department and school to come up with another way to enforce the jaywalking law.

There is no word yet as to what, if any, changes came out of the meeting.