By Jim Hannah
Enquirer staff writer

Stealing cigarettes out of cars in Taylor Mill.

Breaking into a vending machine at the Florence/Boone County Skate Park.

And rolling burning bales of hay into the streets of rural Campbell County.

Police officers across Northern Kentucky say they see more of these petty crimes during the summer. And officials have developed a number of policies to combat them - from curfews to undercover units.

"It is strictly because teenagers, primarily boys, don't have anything to do. They have all this energy pent up," said Kenton County Police Chief Bill Dorsey. "We worked a case yesterday here where they took a bat to a car ... broke out the window and lights."

Dorsey said he doesn't believe the three teens facing charges for the crime are "bad kids." He said children need supervised activities during the summer, from part-time jobs to summer camp.

Statistics for vandalism during summer months were not immediately available, some recent crimes have been attributed to teens.

On June 20, three teenage boys were arrested for allegedly breaking into nearly 50 vehicles. Taylor Mill police said the teens - two 16-year-olds from Taylor Mill and a 15-year-old from Norwood - swiped cash and tobacco products from the unlocked vehicles.

Florence police started making random checks at the new skate park in their city after vandals caused thousands of dollars in damage earlier this summer.

The city spent $2,500 to replace broken brick pillars at a shelter and more than $500 in man-hours to remove graffiti from one of the park bowls and shelters.

Pepsi said it also spent about $3,000 to repair two machines damaged by vandals.

In Campbell County, dispatchers say they are seeing less -serious crimes - like the hay-burning antics and grocery cart races.

"With fireworks being popular around this time of year, we see a lot of bales of hay on fire," said Campbell County Sgt. Bill Wilson. "We discourage that because it can cause brush fires in dry fields."

Florence police Lt. Tim Chesser said his city has had a curfew since 1995 to curb petty crimes. Children are not allowed out alone past 11 p.m. during the week and 1 a.m. on the weekends.

"I was working the nightshift when it first came into being," he said. "It gives officers an extra tool in dealing with teens. It has made a difference over the years."

Tom Scheben, spokesman for the Boone County Sheriff's Department, said his agency created a four-officer crime suppression unit to fight these types of crime. The group wears street clothes and targets anything from vandals in a park to illegal hunters.

"What we often find is children involved in vandalism, or other illegal activities, are drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs," he said. "We address those problems and the petty crimes decrease."

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com