Why Police Warned Their Community About A Rap Battle Challenge

[AngelOfThyNight]

Why Police Warned Their Community About A Rap Battle Challenge

 

When a Massachusetts police department posted a “community notice” about a suspicious rap battle, Facebook users and the media pretty much immediately began making fun of them.

 

But Charlton Police Chief James Pervier told The Huffington Post that the incident really wasn’t that much of a laughing matter, citing details that did not appear in the original notice.

 

The police department Monday posted on Facebook that two or three males in their late teens and early 20s had pulled over to challenge a group of younger teens to a rap battle, asking them to “spit some bars.” When the younger boys declined, the older ones drove away:

 

 

On 3-12-2016 approximately 3:00 p.m. a black SUV with 2-3 male occupants, in their late teens/early 20s, pulled up to three young teenage boys on Dresser Hill Road.

 

One of the males, with brown hair and a pale complexion, wearing a gray T-shirt, gray pants and open-toed sandals, exited the vehicle and started rapping while the other occupants of the vehicle began asking they boys if they wanted to "spit some bars" (Rap lingo) with them. Boys declined, and the SUV drove off.

 

Although this was suspicious behavior and frightening to the boys, nothing made this appear to be an attempted abduction. With that being said, the Charlton Police are still conducting a follow-up investigation into this matter and would like for anyone with credible information surrounding this event to please call 508-248-2250.

 

 

Facebook users called it “absurd,” asked, “What’s next, a dance off?” or noted that the only real crime was “open toed sandals.”

 

But police counter they had legitimate cause to post the notice.

 

“I’m looking at it from the public safety side,” Pervier said.

 

Pervier brought up an important detail not mentioned in the notice -- the older males actually asked the boys to get inside the vehicle. Additionally, the “young teenage boys” were only 12 years old, and the incident took place in a remote, somewhat rural area in front of a residence. The 12-year-olds, he said, were frightened by the encounter.

 

And while there’s a good chance that the older males didn’t have any criminal intentions, Pervier felt that the department would be “negligent” to not inform the public and try to get more information about what was going on, just in case.

 

“If people want to make light of it, fine, but I’m looking at it from a much larger perspective,” Pervier said.

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