Four of the teenagers ‘trespassed’ from Downtown Disney and banned from Disney property in the recent ‘ganglike behavior’ sweep turn out to be top recruits for the FSU football team. They think they were profiled by Disney Security and Off-duty Sheriffs.
According to sheriff’s Cmdr. Larry Krantz, who supervised the off-duty deputies working at Downtown Disney last weekend, Disney security officers said they spoke to the football players several times during the evening.
At one point, the teens tried to enter the Pleasure Island complex of nightclubs after 11 p.m. when entry switches to those 21 and older. They declined to go to the movies as suggested and said they were at Downtown Disney to pick up girls, Krantz said he was told.
From his own observations, he said, the athletes were not aggressive or rude, but he understood that at least one made "kind of smart remarks" to Disney security.
It’s hard to know which story to believe but refusing to go see a movie or leave hardly seems like a reason to ban guests from Walt Disney World property forever. Unless there was some specific threatening action by the guests, I don’t see justification for a trespass warning. Just hanging out is what people do at Downtown Disney. That’s how the food vendors make their money. (Read)
I teach high school at an inner-city public school and while there are problems with the current policy regarding DTD, there is also a very real situation that exists with street gangs in most cities. I’ve seen gang tagging in Orlando, and I am sure that it exists there as well as in other cities. We have a local mall that has had to ban all unescorted children under the age of 18 because of gang activity and disruption.
DTD is in a tough situation. IMHO, what they should do is move to an armband identification for patrons under 18. All teenagers (like large school groups) would have to be checked in by an adult over the age of 21. Teens would be given an armband that was coded to link it to contact information (drivers license, cell phone) of the adult that agrees to be responsible for their behavior while at DTD. Anyone without a band would be asked to leave – no questions and no profiling. Anyone with a band would have their supervising adult contacted if they were disruptive.
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