Police take action to stop kids harassing people in downtown Topsfield

A group of teens has been harassing people in downtown Topsfield and riding their bikes in the middle of the street, and police have had to take action. 

“We get these small groups of kids right before the school year begins," Topsfield Police Chief Neal Hovey said. "They’re all back from their summer vacations and whatever and they all get together.”

It’s a mix of kids from Boxford, Middleton, and Topsfield, ranging in age from 13 to 16, he said, but Topsfield is the draw because it's the only one of the three that has a downtown.

“So, they all congregate down around that area, and they ride their bikes, they ride them down the middle of the road,” Hovey said. “They’re very disruptive to the storefronts and the people.”

Hovey said his department has been working to be proactive. They launched a campaign to reward kids who show good behavior while riding their bikes. If officers see kids who are wearing helmets and being responsible on their bikes, they reward them with a coupon for the Topsfield House of Pizza, and with parental permission they take photos of the kids to post.

However, there was still an issue with kids harassing people in the downtown area.

“We have had a fair number of complaints,” Hovey said. “I don’t think it’s as bad as last year.”

After a recent complaint, Hovey said, Sgt. Frost and Sgt. Bell found the kids, talked to them, and then called their parents.

“We told the parents, we told the kids, that any poor behavior, we’re just going to take their bikes away from them,” Hovey said.

The bikes would be taken to the Police Department and the parents would be contacted.

Hovey said police had a meeting with the parents and the kids, and they explained to the parents the kinds of unacceptable behaviors the kids have been engaged in.

“We got to tell the parents,” Hovey said, “we may even pursue criminal charges of criminal harassment because we’ve had more than three incidents of them harassing the public.”

Since then, he said, they haven’t been receiving complaints.

The majority of the kids are probably new seventh-graders, Hovey said, and they all want to get together before they enter this new chapter of their lives. It’s a big step for them, leaving elementary school in their own town and going into the middle school, which has students from all three towns.

“We understand that,” Hovey said. “We’re sympathetic to that. But, the bottom line is it still does not allow them to have this type of behavior.”