This has been happening for YEARS.
The wisdom of those who have served in public safety positions before us has been to point these kids toward ham radio and getting involved in the public safety organizations that serve their community.
An old-timer who was the most senior volunteer fireman in my former department told me that he played with radios, jukeboxes, and electronics back in the early 30s when he was a teenager. He BUILT and installed a transmitter from parts and put a RECORD PLAYER in the first car he owned as a teenager - that's right, a record player in his car - and "somehow" ended up tuning across various local radio frequencies as he drove around town trying to impress the girls. The police were just above the AM band back then. The police chief, fire chief, and mayor at the time didn't think he was a criminal or a t*rr0rist. Instead, they recognized the kid as being very talented (but a little "off" - they wrote that off as him maybe electrocuting himself with high voltage a few times...) and pointed him toward ham radio and signed him up as a volunteer fireman. He didn't take to ham radio, but he did very well in the fire department. He and another similarly precocious kid in a neighboring department channeled their enthusiasm into building the first "real" radio system for an entire fire mutual aid area. That kid went on to become one of the volunteer fire chiefs and, after he physically could not work on the fireground anymore, would come in and dispatch overnight or during big fires. He was able to make a good living being a local businessman who owned and repaired coin jukeboxes and vending machines. Never stopped being a little off, though, but that was okay.
Fast forward to the late 70s, when he met another kid with a radio and got him hooked up as a volunteer and working for a local radio shop once he turned 18.
Moral of the story - guidance makes much more of a positive impact than reaction.
What are you talking about? Where do you see that?
