Mall Implements Youth Escort Policy

It has been suggested that the Lakeshore Mall in Sebring adopt a teen curfew policy. This, from Sheriff Susan Benton. She added that such a policy ought to require all visitors under 18 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian on Friday and Saturday nights.

Apparently this came about after shoppers were complaining about youth misbehaving in the mall, with merchants upset about kids snatching things and running away. Benton said she was being forced to pay deputies overtime, in some instances, on Fridays and Saturdays, to police the mall. According to her calculations, the sheriff’s office was paying about $285 a night in overtime and benefits to have two deputies man the mall for four hours a day on the weekends. To make matters worse, this is not a taxpayer priority. The mall is private property.

Beginning on September 11th, the mall’s new Youth Escort Policy, or YEP as it’s now being called, requires those under 18 to be escorted by a parent or guardian, 21 years of age or older, on Friday and Saturday after 6 p.m.

The students, however are not pleased. Its become an ongoing topic of discussion in classrooms, and many say that all students are being punished for a few bad apples