The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice provides an alternative to arresting juveniles who have committed first-time misdemeanor offenses; the Juvenile Civil Citation. It is well-known in the school policing community how easy it is to effect a physical arrest by placing handcuffs on a juvenile, writing an arrest form, completing an incident report and transporting the child to the Juvenile Assessment Center. By contrast, a juvenile civil citation requires much more time and effort from the police officer as a means of ensuring juveniles get the best possible chance at correcting their delinquent behaviors which have resulted in misdemeanor crimes. F.O.P. Lodge #133 is extremely proud of the earnest work accomplished over the years by our police officers in providing our children with a “second chance.” As an added bonus, the civil citation program saves taxpayers millions of dollars every year that would otherwise be spent on arrested youth who would normally go through a formal juvenile delinquency program. Here’s how it works: Once there is probable cause that certain misdemeanors have occurred and a juvenile is the offender, the police officer may issue a civil citation. Unlike an arrest where an individual is taken into custody and an arrest form is generated and the subject is transported to the proper intake facility, the civil citation, believe it or not, is much more time consuming and requires close monitoring by several entities. With all civil citations, there is a verification process to determine whether or not the juvenile meets the criteria for the program. After determining that the juvenile meets the criteria, an arrest form along with the completed... read more
