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MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. Detective David Clark encouraged parents to be more accountable with their children at a community forum Wednesday night sponsored by Mount Vernon City Councilmen Richard Thomas and J. Yuhanna Edwards.
Clark, who has been assigned to the Gang Unit of the Mount Vernon Police Department (MVPD), said some parents have been more of a friend than a parent to their kids. Clark said parents have to get back to being parents because a disconnect has been created between mothers, fathers and their children.
I remember growing up and never at any stage of my life was I ever an equal to my father and my mother, Clark said. It doesnt only affect me as a police officer but it affects educators as well. If they have 60 minutes of instruction time they have to deal with behavior for 40 minutes, which takes away class time. That is why our youth are always being the eight-ball. We have to take that back.
Clark said that its all about the choices teens make, noting that as a police officer he has the potential to change anybodys life in a second if he were to arrest them for doing something illegal. Clark said that youth have to realize that they need to make positive choices not negative ones that are detrimental to them.
Rev. Damon Mack of Allen Memorial Church of God said that when he was a child and misbehaved, he didnt wait for his parents to come home because the adult on the block would discipline him.
We need to get back to that, Mack said. Our churches do well on their blocks but all religious organizations have to get together so we can be even greater and operate with one agenda.
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