As the community continues to deal with kids and teens committing crimes and creating havoc, the Hennepin County Attorney is working to slowing that trend down.

Now five months into the job, county attorney Mary Moriarty says she did not expect juvenile crime to be this big of an issue.

“I knew we needed a different approach to youth who were involved in behavior that might be criminal, might be truant, might be other problem behaviors,” Moriarty said. “But, I didn’t realize that we would be really working with a group of youth as young as 10, 11, 12, 13, [and 14-years-old] involved in repeated car thefts, joy riding, that kind of thing,” Moriarty said.

Monday afternoon, there was another example of this growing crisis. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office says a 12-year-old was driving a stolen vehicle with other juveniles inside when they crashed into a bus stop shelter as they were getting chased by police. The sheriff’s office says the pursuit began after the stolen vehicle was “driving erratically” and was believed to have been involved in a string of armed robberies earlier in the day.

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Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt says some of the juveniles had interacted with police for similar behavior in recent days.

And soon, a different 12-year-old will be sent to Utah for a behavioral rehabilitation program after the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says the boy was involved in multiple car thefts.

“Before I got this job, I never would have imagined myself asking a judge to keep a 12-year-old boy in detention because we know it’s very traumatic,” Moriarty said about the boy who’s now been held for more than two-and-a-half months, adding: “I could have never imagined myself asking that a 12-year-old boy be sent to Utah, but those are the options we’re left with.”

She says there was nowhere else in Hennepin County or across Minnesota for the child.

“He’s a boy that there just aren’t options for here,” Moriarty said.

Sending that boy across the country is just one example of the action the county attorney’s office is taking to keep kids out of the prison system and stop the worsening problem of juvenile crime. Not even a half-a-year into her new role, Moriarty’s office has received criticism for how its handled juvenile cases.

“I hear the term ‘catch-and-release’ all the time,” Moriarty said, “And I think it’s important for our community, for everybody, to understand how the system works.”

“Ultimately, law enforcement has to send us a case to be charged. If they don’t, that person’s just legally released,” she adds.

While there are other factors that play into whether a juvenile is detained, Moriarty said she’s recently been connecting with law enforcement to stress a tool that gives them some power in the process. Moriarty says even if a juvenile doesn’t meet the criteria for detention, an officer or deputy can ask for an “override.” If approved, the juvenile can temporarily be held as their case is reviewed.

“We are being proactive and trying to work with law enforcement and make sure they understand, ‘hey, if you think a kid is not safe in the community, even though normally the juvenile detention center wouldn’t keep that kid ask for an override we will help you with that,’” Moriarty said, adding that she spoke with Minneapolis police Chief Brian O’Hara about it.

“I [told him] I would rather that your officers ask for an override then say, ‘well, it’s [going to] be a revolving door, everybody will get out,’ bring the kid in, call and ask.”

That communication is something Moriarty is trying to build on. She’s working to better connect county programs and teams that deal with kids – like law enforcement, child protection services, and youth prosecution, to name a few.

“None of those systems speak to each other,” Moriarty said that lack of communication can lead to a juvenile not receiving the best support possible.

Adding it’s work that’s never been done before.

“We’re going to try to figure out what does this youth and their family need to help them intervene at this point early on in that type of behavior,” Moriarty said, “We’re trying to make sure that we’re intervening early and effectively, in ways that we never have before.”