Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis isn’t mincing words about his problems with management at the Berrien County Juvenile Center.

Speaking on the weekly Chat with the Chief broadcast last week, McGinnis said residents lately have been stepping up to report gun violence, but it’s been frustrating to him that many of the youths caught with guns aren’t being admitted into the center. McGinnis said the Berrien County Courts Family Division Administrator has implemented a scoring system to determine which youths should be admitted, and many of those brought in from Benton Harbor don’t score enough points. That’s some of their offenses being serious.

“They’re not denying the kids in the juvenile center because the juvenile center is at capacity,” McGinnis said. “It’s nowhere near capacity. You got one side, the residential side has nobody in it. The other side has, I think, only seven or eight out of 16 beds in it. So what we believe, what Elvin Gonzalez is doing is, quite frankly, we think he’s woke. He is trying to keep his recidivism numbers down.”

And that means turning away youths who have already been in the center.

McGinnis said in recent months, Benton Harbor Public Safety has busted multiple youths with guns, and they’re just set free. He said one youth even assaulted his mother.

“You are causing a problem, courts and juvenile center, because these kids know that if they do something with a gun or do something violent, nothing will happen. And that cannot be.”

However, the news isn’t all grim. McGinnis said he and Benton Township Police Chief Greg Abrams met last week with members of the Berrien County Board of Commissioners and the meeting went “very, very, very well.” He said commissioners took the message of the chiefs seriously and Abrams said some even indicated they’d be willing to shut down the juvenile center to fix the problem. Abrams said the two chiefs made a lot of headway.

McGinnis also noted local pastors have recently become more involved in the situation, working with young people who have gotten in trouble.