36 2 Police and Law Enforcement—Juvenile Forensics
Another element of the interdiction program is geared toward counseling truant
youths, 'The juvenile detective interviews the children and asks them about their
truant behavior, their home life, and other variables that may be influencing their
truant behavior. They also stress to the child the importance of staying in school
and getting a good education. Many times, the juvenile officers have recognized
financial problems or other issues and have referred the family to the appropriate
social service agency. When these situations arise, the officers give the parents lists
and names of various community agencies that specialize in assisting with family
problems.
When evaluating successful truancy interdiction programs, the Inglewood, Cali-
fornia Police Department serves as an outstanding and effective model. The current
literature on effective interdiction programs mentions the results as well as the ways
in which the program was designed and implemented.
The City of Inglewood's program was initiated to prevent and reduce the rela-
tionship between juvenile delinquency and truancy. The project is called HOPE,
"Helping Others Pursue Education." The city of Inglewood, California, worked
in conjunction with five public agencies to plan the program. The five agencies
involved with the project included the school district, the Los Angeles County Pro-
bation Department, the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services, the
Inglewood Superior Court, juvenile judges, and the Inglewood Police Department
(Rouzan & Knowles, 1985).
Police officers, assisted by school security personnel, were responsible for picking
up and transporting truants to the project HOPE center. The project center is
staffed full-time by a director, counselor, teacher, secretary, security guard, and a
county probation officer. The atmosphere of the project center resembles that of
an academic setting. The juveniles are forced to adhere to rules and are disciplined
and remanded when noncompliant. Once the juveniles are apprehended by officers
and taken to the center, the staff interview and counsel the youths. They are also
forced to participate in a rigorous academic schedule intended to get them "back on
track" with other children their age. Similar to the earlier programs mentioned, the
counselors of the HOPE program emphasize parental interaction and aspire to assist
the family if an emergency arises. This is usually accomplished through providing
the parents with updated lists of various community service contacts. The main
intent of the HOPE program is to rehabilitate the youngster and assist the family
by understanding the underlying behaviors which influence the truancy. If these
efforts fail, the staff probation officers direct the youth to a hearing in juvenile court.
The results of the HOPE program were extremely successful. Comparison of
the school year without Project Hope (1982-1983) to the year with Project Hope
(1983—1984) for the entire city of Inglewood revealed that daytime residential bur-
glaries decreased by 32%. Auto burglaries were decreased 64%, strong-arm robberies
decreased 45%, and grand theft auto dropped 36% (Rouzan & Knowles, 1985).
In order for truancy interdiction programs to effectively address the issues of
truancy and delinquency, it is imperative to have parental, community, school, and