I agree with William Sutton’s July 10 commentary that something needs to be done about juvenile crime when car windows are being broken in Tracy.

But I disagree that parents should pay for the damages that their children inflict because they know where their children are at night and what they are doing.

If this were the case, parents would be responsible for all damages that their children do as long as they are living at home, including children over 18 years old who are supported by a parent.

Knowing where and what a child does after dark is a problem. Children wait until their parents are asleep and walk out the door. Since they know their parents get up around 5 a.m., they just walk back into the house around 4 a.m. and crawl back into bed. When the parents get up, they see their child in bed. They think their child has never been out. But that child has been out on the streets, doing whatever he or she wants. And the only way to make sure that the child does not go out at night is to stay up all night or just chain the child to the bed. Neither option is right.

I was on a first-name basis with the Newark Police Department when I had a stepdaughter who was out of control. I was the parent who tried to get help, but it was not there. Do not point fingers at the parents and say we should always know where and what our children are doing.

My car windows were broken out twice in front of my home. Both times, I had to replace them at my expense. More than one of my neighbors also had their car windows broken. (One neighbor had at least $2,000 worth of damage done to three windows, plus the body of the car has to be repainted). During this crime spree, about $30,000 damage was reported in the neighborhood. Someone knows who did this. Please call the Tracy Police Department so officers can stop these vandals before someone is injured.