They only arrested them and threw them in jail? Why didn't they simply hang them from the tree? After all, trees are much more important than children.

It's amazing to me how many folks, in Europe and the US, have been hyperventilating about the fantastical "onrushing tyranny" of the Bushitler regime and yet so few folks have been paying attention to the creeping statism and "soft totalitarianism" happening under everyone's noses in much of Europe right now.

I see I have to add "tick them off" to that separated-by-a-common-language file I already have "knock me up" stashed in.

Dang burn kids always wrecking stuff! Riding their bikes on the lawn and tearing up the grass! Breaking tree limbs! Knocking over mailboxes!

Is this the kind of behavior we want from the youth?!! I say no! I say throw them in jail! Dang whippersnappers!

Its completely wrong the way the police treated the kids, but the other side of the story was not told...will those kids damage trees again? I don't think they will. That kind of treatment by the law is necessary in some cases (not this one) and quite effective. I do agree that the department needs an audit in this case though. The officers and staff that did anything on this case need a reprimand.

I'm surprised they didn't charge them with a hate crime - florophobia. Wait, I shouldn't give them ideas...

I don't know if this is a growing national phenomenon, but in suburban parts of Michigan, police seem to be hassling children and juveniles. I guess it's safer, since the odds that kids are packing is pretty small.

I've spent some time in local district courts and it seems that pontificating judges largely agree with the police: We have to do something about these tree-climbing kids, and the ones who ride bicycles on sidewalks, in violation of State laws.

So I guess Rand has no problem with juvenile delinquents destroying trees?

'A boy and two girls were arrested and received a police reprimand for their behaviour.'

2 hours in jail is not a reprimand, that's detention. The effort was to target "anti-social behaviour" before it develops "into more serious matters"? I suggest they target the anti-social behaviour within the police force, because it already is too serious.

The real problem here is that because of their arrest, these kids will now have their DNA permanently on file, for the Government of the day to use as it sees fit.

Of course, there are regulations that state that DNA records for people who aren't convicted should be destroyed after a while. If you believe they will be, I have a nice tower in Paris I'd like to sell you...

Well of course the police were no doubt looking at this from the point of view that if the kids disrepected the trees in this way then no telling what they have really been doing wrong. While putting them in jail for attempted arborcide may have been harsh they will time and time again go back on the rusty logic that these kids did something wrong at some point in their lives and this is there time to pay up. We're all guilty, we are all suspects.