Juvenile Crime on the Rise in Mt. Pleasant

Police in Mount Pleasant are seeing a rise in juvenile crime.

The Mount Pleasant Morning Sun reports that, according to the most recent crime statistics, 33 juvenile incidents took place in 2022, more than doubling any of the previous 5 years. Public Safety Director Paul Lauria says that violence and bullying in schools, especially the middle school, is driving that number up.

Lauria says that locking down schools during the COVID-19 pandemic removed structure and discipline from the lives of an entire group of students, and he fears that the consequences will stay with those kids until they graduate. Mount Pleasant Public Schools added a second school resource officer last year, as well as several extra counselors to try to combat the issue.