Misbehaving at the KMCC Published May 13, 2011 By Lt. Col. Scott Farrar 86th Mission Support Group RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- Our mall, otherwise known as the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center, is a superb facility and we are lucky to have it. By no surprise, it's a popular place, but we have continual issues with youth misbehaving when there is a lack of adult supervision, sometimes elevating to the point where police involvement is required. Community members have reported numerous occurrences of youth playing on the elevator and escalators, hanging on the outside of escalators, and throwing objects from the second floor to name a few. Some objects have even come close to hitting shoppers, vendors, and automobiles and motorcycles on display. There have also been problems with shoplifting. What some of our community members don't realize is the KMCC is under very close electronic surveillance with technology that ensures successful prosecution of the vast majority of shoplifters. While this helps to punish wrongdoers, we believe education and prevention provides a much better solution, so we ask parents to help educate your children on this issue. KMCC officials say that most negative behavior occurs Friday afternoons and especially on days when school is dismissed early. While KMCC officials address negative behavior with the youth, occasionally they become disrespectful, forcing officials to involve security forces. When youth are caught, they, along with their military sponsor, will have to meet a misconduct board, to explain their actions to the installation commander and/or the 86th Mission Support Group deputy commander, who handles various disciplinary issues for offenses committed by non-military members. These issues can range from children misbehaving at the mall, vandalizing property or substance abuse. The level of disciplinary action available to the board is dependent on a number of variables, to include: the individual's age, prior record, seriousness and deliberateness of misconduct, the presence or absence of parental guidance and discipline, defiance of authority and adverse impact on the military community. The sanctions can vary from anything to a letter of warning, restricted travel, community service (alongside the military sponsor), and all the way to barment from all U.S. military installations in Europe. Barment has a tremendous impact on the offender and the entire family, not only will a barred civilian or family member lose installation access, barment can also lead to the early return of dependents, barment from Department of Defense Dependents Schools, or the family having to move off base if they live in base housing. This is where parents come in - you are key to reducing these incidents and ensuring your family members are acting appropriately when unsupervised. We ask parents to educate your family members the on proper behavior not only throughout the KMC, but specifically in the KMCC, and supervise your youth whenever possible. If parents witness youth misbehaving, we also ask that they notify KMCC leadership so they can take appropriate action. We appreciate your support in making the KMC a better place for all of us.