08/23/2026
This is completely SPOT ON all the way to the end.
2+2 always gonna be 4 ‼️
Ten years ago, I volunteered my time as a reserve police officer at our town’s Rock the Block.
Tonight, I stood in the middle of that same event—this time with years of law enforcement behind me—and found myself looking around in awe at how much has changed.
And I’m not talking about the event itself.
The fireworks were bigger. The crowd was bigger. There were couples, families, politicians, athletes, working people, exhausted parents chasing toddlers, grandparents, children and people from every walk of life gathered together in one place.
As seen, I even got to stop and take a photo with some dear old friends who were there with their children, simply enjoying family time together.
And I loved that.
Because in one little photograph was a reminder of what events like this are supposed to be about—community, friendship, families making memories and kids getting to be kids.
There was a lot of that tonight.
But standing among it was something much harder to ignore.
Groups of kids—many between the ages of 13 to 16 years old—dropped off without a guardian anywhere in sight, moving through a family event with seemingly little concern for the people around them. Disrespect. Fighting. Profanity. Disruptive behavior.
And standing there tonight, I kept thinking:
What has happened?
I don’t believe young people suddenly became bad.
I believe too many adults stopped requiring better from them.
Somewhere along the way, accountability started being treated like cruelty. Discipline became controversial. Authority became something to challenge instead of respect. Parents became afraid to parent, schools became limited in what they could enforce, officers became expected to solve problems they didn’t create, and systems became increasingly reluctant to attach meaningful consequences to behavior.
Then we act surprised when a child believes nobody can tell them what to do.
These children are still learning. Their brains aren’t finished developing, and they are going to make stupid decisions. We all did.
But that’s exactly why they’re supposed to have adults.
Adults who know where they are.
Adults who care how they’re behaving.
Adults willing to say no.
Adults willing to make them go home.
Adults willing to let consequences be uncomfortable enough that maybe they make a different decision next time.
Because when parents don’t parent, schools can’t discipline, courts don’t hold accountable, and society keeps lowering expectations, eventually the police become the last adults standing between a child’s behavior and its consequences.
And then somehow we’re surprised that officers are dealing with behavior at a community event that should have been addressed long before that child ever stepped out of the car.
And I want to be clear about something:
There were many good kids there tonight, too.
I noticed them.
Teenagers laughing with their friends and bothering absolutely nobody. Kids walking beside their parents. Families enjoying the evening together. Parents doing exactly what parents are supposed to do.
They deserve to be acknowledged because they shouldn’t be overshadowed by the ones creating chaos.
And they deserve adults willing to protect the kind of community where families can gather safely and make the memories I watched so many making tonight.
Ten years ago, I stood at my very first Rock the Block event as a reserve officer just beginning to see this profession from the inside.
Tonight, I stood there in a different position with a decade of experiences I didn’t have then.
Maybe that’s part of what changed too.
Maybe I simply see more now.
But one thing I know hasn’t changed:
Children need boundaries. Communities need standards. And accountability isn’t the enemy of compassion. Sometimes accountability is one of the greatest forms of compassion we can give a young person before the world teaches the lesson much more harshly.
We have to start expecting more again.
Not just from our children.
From the adults responsible for raising them.
