South Gate Police: Vexed by Teen Youtube Fight Videos

You might have already seen or heard of the videos. For the most part they are youngsters engaged in violent acts that would trouble any parent.  They are clips of fights between South Gate teenagers that would never have been seen if Youtube did not exist.

“We have not seen an increase in fights,” said Captain Keith Hupp, of the South Gate Police Department, who added that accessible technology was probably the culprit of more fights being seen. “But there maybe an increase to what gets posted on Youtube.”

Fights between teens are bound to happen in just about any city. However, there are South Gate parents that believe that the issue should not be ingored and dealt with.

“There are a lot of parents who are concerned about fighting,” said Wendy Tejeda, a local mother and member of parent group, Padres Unidos. “This is a topic for sure.”

Tejeda also admitted to having opted to send one of her children to a middle school in Downey. She did this because of concerns that local middle-school’s are too overpopulated, and as result cannot effectively address several issues, such as fighting.

The issue of fights has played a role in influencing some city departments to take some decisions to curb their incidence.

, director of Parks and Recreation, explained that part of the reason for including a staff person supervising the skate park was done as a result of a trend that encouraged fighting.

“The breaking point was when we found video on Youtube of staged fights at the skate park,” said Adams. “They would post lookouts and have fist fights in the bowl.”

The city police say that they do have the appropriate mechanisms to bring such situations under control.  Further adding that they work closely with school police and are keeping an eye on critical areas.  

“We have adjusted our hours so that we have additional officers around the local schools in attempt to reduce fights,” said Captain Hupp.

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