"Can you take us with you to Essaouira?" two minors asked the police officers who had transported them under arrest a few hours earlier to appear before the investigating judge at the Safi Court of Appeal.

An image that might make one smile, but which should also give pause to decision-makers in the security and judicial apparatus, as it reflects a most alarming observation regarding the spread and frequent impunity of juvenile delinquency.

"Juvenile delinquency is currently becoming the major concern for the security apparatus in Essaouira. The youth crime rate is clearly increasing: formation of criminal gangs, aggravated theft, violence and assault, rape, drug use, among others," states a security source who preferred to remain anonymous.

Last week, for example, security services in Essaouira dismantled a criminal gang made up of four minors involved in burglary cases. Two criminals are the subject of search warrants, including one by the Safi police. Following a burglary at a shop in the old Medina of Essaouira, security elements proceeded to arrest these minors and seize the stolen items, part of which had been sold to a local merchant.

This operation only temporarily put an end to the minors' criminal activities as well as the security services' worries, because the main accused are very likely to return to their old ways in a short time.

"The minors we refer to the investigating judge are either released or transferred to the juvenile reform centre in Marrakech. Unfortunately, their stay in this centre is generally short-lived due to their escape. I am surprised every time by one of them, whom I thought was detained, greeting me as if to tell me that his arrest ultimately served no purpose!" asserts a visibly frustrated security official, as this situation encourages juvenile delinquency.

Minors involved in criminal acts are increasingly uncontrollable; they are everywhere: Azlef, Al Amal housing estate, the lagoons district, the old Medina, Sqala, the industrial district, Al Moustaqbal housing estate, among others. Drugged, armed, they are accompanied by 14-year-old girls, sowing terror and insecurity in the city's neighbourhoods.

"I was passing by a group of young people at the Al Amal housing estate; a 14-year-old girl was screaming and crying hysterically in front of a young man who was visibly drugged. She was blaming him for raping her, she who only wanted to visit him!" recounts a resident, not without bitterness.

Girls are no longer safe on the street. In the vicinity of schools, one can observe the presence of young, out-of-school delinquents, drugged, and ready to do anything to win the sympathy and company of a girl who risks all dangers...

It is a phenomenon that must concern the authorities and civil society. It therefore requires a security, educational, and social approach.