Police warn parents: Dangerous roof trespassing challenge gains popularity

Narva police are warning parents about a dangerous social media challenge prompting local teenagers to trespass on the roofs of shopping centers and abandoned buildings to record videos.
Teenagers aged 9 to 15 are being encouraged online to participate in a challenge where they climb onto the roofs of abandoned buildings and operating shopping centers, including Prisma, Fama and Maxima.
Police stress that such entertainment poses a serious threat to life and health. Moving around on rooftops can lead to falls and severe injuries. In addition, illegal entry into buildings may result in property damage and legal liability for both the teenagers and their parents, law enforcement warns.
"If previously young people were climbing into abandoned buildings, this time it has reached a different level. They have started climbing onto the roofs of buildings that are still in use. After we received the first four calls involving an active building and worked with the parents, we decided it was necessary to inform other parents as well," said Janno Kalmer, head of the community police officers' unit.
Teenagers are also continuing to enter abandoned buildings around the city. Over the past two months alone, law enforcement received 46 calls related to just one such site. Together with Narva city authorities, police inspected all abandoned buildings and issued orders requiring the owners to block access to the properties.
"In reality, this is very dangerous because in the most recent case — fortunately still the only one so far — a young person injured his arm while climbing in an abandoned building. He needed a bandage. It wasn't very serious, but still, so to speak, the first injury has already occurred," Kalmer said.
Police emphasize that the pursuit of views and likes should never become a reason for dangerous actions.
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Editor: Andrei Kraševski, Sergei Mihhailov, Argo Ideon









