Police would like to chat with you
Peabody Police Chief Bruce Burke and his officers have had several topics surface in the past two weeks or so they would like to share with the public.
"First of all is the ordinance that prohibits firing guns in the city limits," Burke said. "It is not illegal to possess guns in the city limits, but it IS illegal to fire them.
"This includes BB guns, paintball, airsoft, and pellet guns."
Burke said there have been a number of complaints about juveniles carrying and firing airsoft guns in the downtown area.
"This is as much for the safety of the person carrying the paintball gun or airsoft gun," he said. "The guns could be misconstrued as a real gun. They look a great deal like real weapons."
The police will be watching for offenders and are encouraging the public to call in if the guns are being carried or fired in their neighborhoods.
Another issue that is becoming a problem is that of bicycle safety.
"Now that the weather is nice, the kids are everywhere on their bikes," said Burke. "We have already had calls about bike riders not obeying stop and yield signs and riders just not paying attention to what the traffic around them is doing."
Burke urged parents to sit their children down and talk to them about bicycle safety and traffic rules.
"Another item related to juveniles is curfew in the city of Peabody," said Burke. "We are going to begin enforcing it more frequently."
Curfew for anyone in Peabody younger than 18 is 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. They are not allowed to be out again until 5 a.m. On Friday and Saturday the curfew is 12:30 a.m. with the same 5 a.m. time for being allowed back on the street.
"When we enforce this, the kids will get one warning," said Burke. "And we will escort them home if necessary. On the second violation they will be issued a citation and will have to appear in city court. The parents will be notified.
"We want the kids to have fun on summer vacation, but there is simply no reason for juveniles to be out after curfew," he added.
Burke said he and his officers have been instructed by Peabody City Council to issue warnings to people who are blowing grass clippings into the streets and gutters. After the first warning, the offenders will be ticketed.
Burke said that so far they had not encountered any problems. He said the people they have talked to were cooperating and said they would not violate the city ordinance again.
"Some even swept up the grass they had just blown into the street," he said.
The city is hoping to reduce some of the problems in the storm drain system by eliminating the piles of cut grass and clippings that are left in the street.
In his weekly report about police activity Burke said his officers have filed a couple of inoperable vehicle cases with the city prosecutor, investigated a non-injury accident on Elm May 12, but issued no tickets, and turned three juvenile cases over to the county attorney for disorderly conduct, child runaway, and child endangerment.
