A teen who couldn’t tie his basketball shoes was the trigger for a Vicksburg police officer, now retired, to step in.

Walter Beamon, who retired last month as a lieutenant in charge of the Vicksburg Police Department’s traffic division, saw the 14-year-old tripping over his shoelaces while playing last summer in the department’s summer-basketball program.

Beamon told members of the Vicksburg Kiwanis Club Tuesday he asked the teen at least twice to tie his shoes. He refused.

So Beamon decided to try to find out why.

&#8220I want you to help me,” Beamon said he told the teen who agreed to help with some end-of-the-day cleanup duties. The relationship they formed eventually led to an admission that Beamon said startled him. &#8220‘I don’t know how to tie my shoes,’” Beamon quoted the teen as saying.

Learning that a 14-year-old who seemed simply defiant was really ashamed gave Beamon, in the last of his 27 1/2 years as a police officer, a better appreciation for how little guidance the child had received in life.

Beamon said he’s seen a trend that may be part of the problem. &#8220Parents are getting younger and younger,” Beamon said. &#8220When the parenting skills are not there, the children suffer.”

The increased need for police involvement in the lives of children &#8220causes taxes to go up,” Beamon added.

Beamon now works as a case manager with Central Mississippi Prevention Services.

He said he helped initiate the Streetball program to give children something to do in a safe, air-conditioned gym during the summer. Juvenile crime numbers dropped during the hours the program was in operation, between 3 and 11 p.m., Beamon added.

&#8220Those are the times we get most of the calls” for offenses like kids’ breaking windows, Beamon said. &#8220All that energy and nothing to do.”

Beamon said that when he was a youngster, children would go to neighborhood playgrounds. Life for many kids now, however, has become &#8220too convenient,” and they expect amenities such as air-conditioning and video games to be available.

One of the basketball program’s goals is to teach children &#8220how to resolve conflicts with each other without resorting to violence,” and no &#8220sagging” clothing is allowed, Beamon said.

The Streetball program is continuing this summer, Deputy Police Chief Richard O’Bannon said.

Beamon said many police officers have second jobs and that he hoped grant funds would be made available to allow more of them to be employed as mentors.

&#8220Unfortunately our children are in a crisis,” Beamon said. &#8220Actually, our parents are in a crisis.”

That a parent is single is no excuse for that parent’s neglect, Beamon added.

&#8220You can be a single parent and raise your children, but you have to react to what’s going on,” Beamon said. &#8220You can’t just see it and not react.”

Beamon also said more young people are carrying weapons. When Beamon began in law enforcement, firearms were seldom found in traffic stops, he said.

Now, though, &#8220everybody’s got one – some legal, some not,” Beamon said.