Parents upset over park incident
INDIAN ROCKS BEACH (FL)– Several parents showed up at the Indian Rocks Beach Commission meeting June 25 to complain about the treatment their children received at the hands of sheriff’s deputies on Monday following an incident at Kolb Park.
The incident involved their children, between the ages of 10 and 15, and others attending a YMCA summer camp in the park. Apparently a number of arrows, owned by the YMCA, were broken and the deputies were called.
To hear the parents tell it the deputies sequestered their children, separated them and threatened to bar them for life from the park if they didn’t co-operate and identify who broke the arrows.
Ken Folce, one of the parents, said the treatment by the deputies has him concerned about the message his son is getting.
“First of all, I wasn’t notified that my son was being questioned by the police,” he said. “It is forcing me to have to tell my children not to talk to the police and tell them to call their parents.”
Sgt. John Daniels told Folce and the other parents that deputies are not required to call the parents before they question a juvenile, but the children could refuse to talk.
“As for banning them from life from the park it can’t happen,” he said. “Deputies don’t have the authority to do that. But they can issue trespass warnings.”
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