Amipow Incorporated because everybody needs tp

Anger Management

Last week a 15 year old was riding his brand new moped about a mile from his house. For whatever reason, he turned left in front of a van and was struck. Half of our precinct responded to the accident scene while a passing motorist started CPR.

At the same time, we received a call from an alarm company stating there was a burglary in progress at a closed business. They had a live video feed of the person breaking into and exploring the store. The other (almost) half of the precinct responded to the burglary while the alarm company gave updates on the burglar's whereabouts.

That left me all alone to handle the entire precinct, so I found a shady spot and parked my car. Just when I started working on a report, I was dispatched to a call where a 12 year old had his mother at knife point. Having no one to back me up, I asked the dispatcher to send an officer from Marietta. I was about 10 miles away from the call since it was nowhere near my beat. When I arrived I met with the Marietta officer who was talking with the mom. The kid was sitting in the ground.

Here's what happened:
Mom was trying to get son to clean his room. When son refused, Mom said she would take his new school shoes back to the store and grabbed the box. Son snatched the shoe box and then tackled his mom. She couldn't get him off of her (he was just as big as her) so she bit him on the side. She then went downstairs and he followed. He went into the kitchen, grabbed a large knife, pointed it at his mother and said, "I'm tired of you. I'm going to cut you." She grabbed the phone and ran outside.

The son's excuse: an anger management problem.

This brings me to the title of this post.

A few years back, children everywhere were being diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. Having ADD was more popular than iPods. Soon, it seemed like half of the population had trouble paying attention, and they now had a medical excuse. "Kid can't pay attention in class? ADD!" "Kid bouncing off the walls? ADHD!" Being diagnosed with ADD seems to have slowed. With the advent of the iPhone, Apple is once again more popular than ADD. In it's place: anger management problem.

Most of the time when the police get called to a house, it's because someone got very angry and did something very stupid. When it's a young person who has committed the stupid offense, the parents are always quick to jump in and blame "his anger management problem." Most of the family's I come across have a family psychiatrist who has informed them of their child's anger management problem. The parents then inform the child of their diagnosed excuse for being an asshole. It's so annoying when the parents tell me, "I don't want to press charges, because he has an anger management problem." It's even more annoying when the kid tells me, "It's not my fault, because I have an anger management problem." I just want to smack them and tell them to take responsibility for their actions.

I do not mean to offend anyone who has been diagnosed with ADD, ADHD or an anger management problem. The problems exist and they are real. This is the only time I'll ever quote Dr. Phil: "ADD is the most over-diagnosed, and under-diagnosed conditions in the U.S." Meaning that people who do not actually have ADD are being diagnosed, and the people who truly have the problem are not being diagnosed. I'm not sure why there's a sudden explosion of anger management problems, and it doesn't really matter. What concerns me the most is what the next big psychological frenzy will be...

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The 15 year old on the scooter was more or less killed on impact. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced deceased. I feel terrible for his family and friends. His parents will forever blame themselves for buying him the vehicle that caused his death.

The burglar got away before our officers arrived. The alarm company's cameras didn't cover enough of the store, and they lost sight of him.

The 12 year old was charged with Aggravated Assault. (Take that anger management problem!)