ÎLE-BIZARD – Some seven teens were arrested and charged with violent crimes including aggravating assault and armed robbery recently, in the usually quiet island community of Île Bizard. It’s a turn of events that has residents concerned.
“I’m shocked,” said Maria Bielinski, a resident. “I mean, I always thought in a small community you are proud of it.”
Police made the arrests on Wednesday, and are keeping the identities of the accused confidential because most of them are minors. Police say the accused would also crash parties at private homes and intimidate the people inside.
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They would “sort of terrorize the people who were there,” said Constable Lynn Duncan, of the SPVM.
Vikki Stark is an NDG psychotherapist who deals with teens. She says that a sort of “group-think” can set in among older teens that can lead to dangerous behaviour.
“The scariest thing about group-think is that among older kids, as time goes on, it could lead to gangs, and the whole sense of responsibility is diffused,” she said.
That group-think is also something Stark says could lead to increased and hazardous risk-taking. In some of the crimes, police said that some of the accused brandished knives.
Parents “are not holding the reins, and the kids increasingly are out doing things that the kids themselves are afraid of,” Stark said.
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