Lather, rinse, repeat

So I met with Jamie's probation officer on Friday afternoon. Geez, she was a tiny little thing and didn't look much older than 18 herself. Anyways, I told her all about Jamie and the things he's been doing. She said that she would be putting out a warrant for his arrest - at least it would be getting him off the streets. She also told us to call the police and have him arrested every time we saw him breaching his probation. It seems the more breach of probation charges he gets, the more likely the judge is to put him somewhere off the streets.

Saturday night rolls around and at 5 past 11, we go out looking for Jamie. And there he is, sitting at the bus stop smoking and kabitzing with two of his buddies. BT stands in the doorway of the bus shelter preventing him from leaving and I called the police again. Ten minutes later, two cruisers show up and they arrest Jamie and take him away. During the wait, Jamie is jovial and quite happy. He says last week when he was arrested, they took him to the police station, charged him and then drove him to the Salvation Army and let him go. So he was in custody last week for less than an hour. Jamie was convinced this was the same that would happen this time but this time they put him in handcuffs and REALLY searched him. I got a call from a police officer this morning at 7 am asking if I was going to bail Jamie out - to which I said "No, why would I have him arrested just to bail him out?". Seems they have to call me since Jamie is still a minor. Anyhow I got a call from the juvenile detention centre this afternoon, so at least Jamie will be sleeping inside for a few days, eating decent food and having showers. Hopefully, the judge won't let him out on his own recognisance this time.

It's a relief to get him off the street but I was feeling really really guilty when they were leading him away in handcuffs - no matter that he was laughing the whole time. I hope this is the last time I have to have him arrested before the "system" starts giving him some help - he'll accept advice and help from anyone but me. *sigh* Even one of the cops on Saturday night was telling me that our young offender laws have the kids laughing at the legal system and there just isn't much that the cops can do. We are hoping that the cops took us seriously on Saturday when we told them that we would be calling every night if we had to to get Jamie off the streets. I have to think of Katie and at this point, I dont' trust Jamie as far as I could throw him and I dont' want him anywhere NEAR her.