APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Juvenile arrests in Appleton increased by approximately 36% last year compared to 2021, according to the police department’s 2022 Use of Force Analysis Report released Tuesday. But the number is relatively low compared to years past.
The report carefully examines incidents involving the use of force by the Appleton Police Department’s officers.
“It’s been something we’ve done for a number of years,” said APD Lt. Jack Taschner. “We have a crew put together all of our arrest numbers, our use of force within those incidents — just kind of being transparent with everything we do at the PD here.”
Within that report, there were a total of 2,821 arrests in 2022. The department says force was used about 2.2% of the time (62 arrests).
“With the COVID years, everything really dipped because the interactions went down, but then as we’ve increased interactions, we really haven’t increased a ton with the amount of use of force or even arrests that we’ve made,” said Taschner.
Three hundred two of those arrests were juvenile arrests, which is up from 194 in 2021.
“2020, 2021 — you’re talking about the COVID years. We weren’t in the schools; nobody was interacting really,” said Taschner.
Taschner, who is also the APD’s School Resource Officer Coordinator, says last year’s number may be a dramatic jump, but it’s low compared to others.
“Even from 2018, we’re down what would be 247,” he said.
In 2013, there were 1,149 juvenile arrests. In 2015, there were 929 and in 2017, 595 arrests.
The biggest problem seen with juveniles lately: vaping devices.
“It’s easy for kids to acquire. So, they bring those on the grounds, obviously a violation,” said Taschner. “They’re not supposed to be in possession by the state laws.”
But Taschner says there’s something to consider when looking at the total number of arrests.
“It counts any citation that we wrote, any referral over to the state or to [Youth and Family Services] and, also, anything that we’ve exceptionally cleared,” said Taschner. “A lot of it has to do with the exceptional clearance stuff.”
What Taschner is talking about is called a “hold open citation.”
“We essentially meet with the kid, we meet with the school, meet with the parents and we say, ‘This is not behavior that would be acceptable on a normal school day.”
Instead of issuing a ticket, the juvenile can attend a program relating to what they got in trouble for.
“We’ll have them complete that program and then we exceptionally clear the ticket, which means it never gets issued,” said Taschner. “That also counts towards an arrest by the state standard and goes in our report, but the reality is nothing was done with the kid. They didn’t have to go to court — it’s more educational than anything else.”
“It’s really about steering juveniles if at all possible away from the juvenile justice system,” said Cory McKone, associate dean of Public Safety at Fox Valley Technical College.
McKone used to be a school resource officer in Neenah. He thinks what APD and the school district does is a great way to help youth struggling with the law.
“Does a fine really, does that serve the mission of what it is you want to do in helping that juvenile learn their lesson and maybe avoid that behavior in the future? Maybe not,” McKone said. “So, something more informal may be a better way to handle it.”
