Helicopter parenting: a term used to describe paternal millennials who monitor and control nearly every aspect of their children's lives. Although these parental perpetrators serve as the punch line of many jokes, their controlling nature can be detrimental for their children, raising wide-eyed young adults unprepared to cope with the corruptive nature of modern culture.
If this was an article on parenting advice (from an eighteen-year-old who struggles to remember to feed her goldfish, but parenting advice nonetheless) I would say let’s find some grey area between the 1970s ‘my kid’s been exploring the woods behind Boo Radley’s house for five hours but it’s ok as long as they’re back by dinner’ and the current ‘sure you can hold my child but first here’s some hand sanitizer and a face mask’ mentality.
However, I’m here to provide information on a topic I’m just as unqualified to talk about as parenting: the manipulation of college aged offenders into working as police confidential informants in exchange for reduced charges.
Unprepared to cope with the sudden influx of self-sufficiency and little to no supervision that accompanies university life, many formerly sheltered children enter their delayed rebellious teenager phase with full force, often involving themselves in situations way over their inexperienced heads.
That’s right, (insert middle-aged suburban mom name here), you might think Billy’s solid 3.7 GPA signifies a smooth transition to university life, but you didn’t see him doing a line of cocaine off a cracked (no pun intended) glass table last weekend. But you know who could have seen him? The local cops, because if this ‘adult’ never learned how to successfully sneak in his back door past curfew, he most definitely has no idea how to escape a felony drug charge.
Thus unfolds a perfect storm: a naïve kid (I don’t care if he’s over eighteen, Nancy, he calls you to ask how long last night’s pizza should cook in the microwave), the threat of a significant prison sentence and a felony record, and a police department whose ultimate goal is to stamp out all drug activity in their district.
The College Town PD oftentimes focuses on the bigger picture of the crime community, unfortunately at the expense of unprepared students who in a moment of panic forget a fundamental takeaway from their eleventh grade government class: a defedant’s right to an attorney.
In 2009, Florida State University student Rachel Hoffman was found in possession of five ounces of marijuana and four ecstasy pills, enough for the police to threaten her with felony dealing charges and a possible prison sentence. Rachel, an impending graduate school student, accepted the police’s offer to work as a CI in exchange for the dismissal of her charges.
These events, previously described as the perfect storm, explain how a twenty-three year old redhead was tapped with a wire and placed at the center of a sting operation, where her job was to purchase two ounces of cocaine, 1,500 ecstasy pills, and two handguns from two notorious local drug dealers.
Tragically, the plan flopped when the staged deal occurred at a different location, causing the officers to lose connection to Rachel’s wire, ultimately leaving her defenseless at the hands of two dangerous and armed criminals.
Residents recovered Rachel’s body two days after the incident. The perpetrators had shot her with one of the handguns she want sent to purchase.
The poor girl was thrown to the wolves by individuals she trusted to protect her.
So what's the takeaway of this tragic story?
Inform the young adults in your life of their rights, including the refusal to corporate with police without a lawyer present (even if they are not officially under arrest).
Allow your kids some room to make mistakes and learn from them. A gradual introduction to the harsh realities of adulthood beats a direct nose dive into university life.
Trust your gut. if a situation seems dangerous, it probably is. Don't blindly trust others to protect you.
Support legislation that requires formal training and protection to all recruited confidential informants. After their daughter's death, Rachel Hoffman's parents worked to pass a law in Florida requiring training for CIs and ensuring that offenders are made aware that lesser sentences may not be rewarded in exchange for CI work.
Although this legislation, coined 'Rachel's Law', assists Florida citizens, similar situations to Rachel's happen nationwide. Federal legislation is crucial in protecting the vulnerable young adults of our society.
And of course, don't do drugs, kids.
