On Feb. 1, the Indian River Mall’s management adopted a Conduct Policy that prohibited teens under age 17 from being on the premises unless they were accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
Three months later, that policy is still in effect.
“Nothing has changed – at this moment, anyway,” Debbye Hearon, a mall administrator, said. “We haven’t had time to review it. I don’t know when we will.”
The mall’s owner, Michael Kohan, said in February that the policy would be reviewed in 60 days. However, Hearon said management has been “too busy” with more pressing matters.
Besides, she added, the new policy seems to be working.
“We’ve had some incidents,” she said, “but it hasn’t been as bad as it was.”
According to sheriff’s office statistics, in fact, calls-for-service at the mall have decreased since the unaccompanied-teen policy was implemented.
They’ve dropped from 148 in November, 251 in December and 134 in January to 101 in February, 96 in March and 77 through the first three weeks of April. (The December numbers are noticeably higher because of increased mall traffic connected to holiday shopping.)
The monthly statistics, however, include routine checks, alarms, motor-vehicle accidents and follow-ups.
As for deputies responding to calls related to actual incidents and possible crimes – such as those involving theft, shoplifting, harassment, disturbances, suspicious persons, trespass, burglary, weapons and drugs – those numbers are down, too.
There were 70 such calls in November, 106 in December and 75 in January. There were only 43 in February and 45 in March. As of midday Monday, there were only 31 this month.
Those numbers do not identify which calls were in response to incidents involving teens, however.
“We didn’t do this for no reason,” Kohan said in February, after making the decision to require adult supervision of the 16-and-under crowd. “Some things were happening and we were receiving complaints.”
Kohan did not offer specifics or cite any specific incidents that prompted the mall to implement the policy, but, apparently, far too many unsupervised teens had been conducting themselves badly and causing trouble – and the problem was getting worse.
There were numerous complaints posted on social media outlets, particularly on Facebook’s Vero Beach Eyes and Ears Neighborhood Cyber Watch, which provided detailed examples of teens publicly using bad language, blatantly disrespecting adults, harassing senior shoppers, shoplifting and destroying property.
Some posters wrote that they had witnessed physical altercations that prompted them to call the sheriff’s office.
The Conduct Policy, which is posted at each of the mall’s entrances, states: “If you fail to comply with this Conduct Policy, you will be asked to leave the property. Refusal to leave when asked may result in being banned from the Indian River Mall.”
