Civil citations gain popularity as alternative to arresting minors
Orlando police Chief John Mina remembers getting into a fight at school when he was young. He got an in-school suspension, he said, and learned not to do it again.
Now, a similar scuffle or other youthful indiscretion can leave minors with arrest records. But if the crime is not severe and the minor takes responsibility, law enforcement officers can write civil citations instead, leaving children and teens without arrest records.
"Our police officers, all of us, we didn't get into law enforcement to arrest kids," Mina said at a news conference presented Wednesday by the League of Women Voters' Orange County chapter, which has been championing the cause of civil citations for about two years.
