Crime & Safety

Teens at TS Food Mart: Whose Problem is it?

Teenage customers at TS Food Mart may be a nuisance for some, but they are paying customers.

It's about 3 p.m. pulling into  and the parking lot is packed with a hodgepodge of high schoolers. Some are just hanging out with friends; others inside are buying various soft drinks and snacks. Then it happens.

"Hey, man, can you buy me a blunt?" a hooded teenager asks, arm extended, his fist holding a crumpled couple of dollars.

That's one.

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What could only have been three minutes pass and then another:

"Hey, can you buy me a 40?"

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That's two in less than five minutes.

It's the classic "Hey, mister" line so many adolescents take a gamble on.

Sacramento City Unified School District School Resource Officer Frank Ley explained though he is aware the situation exists, unless he is informed a clear and present danger exists (i.e. violence, drug dealings, gang activity), his primary directive is to ensure students are traveling to and from school safely and during regular school hours.

It's the kind of situation that has to be handled on a case-by-case basis, said Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jason Ramos.

"If there are chronic, ongoing problems at a specific location then they (officers) may look to step up enforcement," Ramos said. "But to say one certain level of enforcement is going to be universally applicable is not realistic."

In her 14 years as a TS Food Mart manager, Sandeep Singh said she's seen it enough to know how to stop kids from soliciting customers.

"They know I'm the mean lady," Singh said. "They see me through the window and they turn around."

Singh explains she can see every customer from the front window as they approach the store and knows what a casual proposition from a minor looks like.

"I'll knock on the window and tell them I can see them," Singh said.

If the kids linger for more than five minutes and she sees suspicious activity, Singh won't hesitate to let the minors know she'll be calling the cops. 

Ramos explains most times, it's the business owners or intimidated customers reporting the dangerous activity. For business owners, it's the kind of behavior that has an adverse effect on business, unlike the casual tap on the shoulder a would-be customer might get from a teenager.

"The kids might also go in and spend a couple of bucks everyday on soda, chips or whatever the case may be," Ramos said. "So in the grand scheme of things, business owners say, 'Hey, this is a problem,' and then they draw law enforcement attention to the business, which in turn keeps those kids away."

"A lot of them (business owners) turn the other cheek to what's going on outside the doors as long as those kids were in a few minutes earlier and spent six bucks on something, another spends four bucks on something," he said. "Then that happens every day–why do you really care what's going on outside?"


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