12-Year-Olds Rob Stroller Mom in Prospect Park

Just when we had almost forgotten about the "teen wolfpacks" menacing people in and around Prospect Park, we check out today's Post and find that two 12-year-old boys mugged a jogging Park Slope mom pushing a stroller in broad daylight yesterday. (Hold the jogging stroller wisecracks for a minute.) Yes, this sort of nasty stuff is part of Life in the Big City, but some things cross the line. This is one of the incidents that does.

Let's start with the age of criminals: twelve. Then, consider the victim: a mom with a baby. And, finally, the time of day: around 1:00 with other people around.

All Gowanus Lounge can say is: Wow. There's never a bean tossing Park Slope Psycho Mom around when you need her.

We understand that statistically robbery is down in the 78th Precinct, and that iPods attract every idiot under the sun that wants to take something. However, we also understand that Prospect Park and environs remains a magnet for groups of young people, some of whom are clearly up to no good. We see them, especially after dark. We also have a very strong sense that--other than a couple of week after the initial press about the "wolf packs" when you could see more cops along Prospect Park West--there are no more police than usual around. Let's put it this way, if there's a "task force" out there, they are so low-key and invisible that you don't know they are there.

We're thinking this will be one of those little stories that has some legs, both because of the nature of the victim(s) and the age of the criminals. Maybe it's time to revive a suggestion from the time of the wolf packs: Roving gangs of real estate agents (call them the "Property Value Guardian Angels") out looking for Park Slope Tween Criminals, because moms with infants getting mugged easily trim 10-20 percent from an asking price. You'll be able to spot candidates for the PVGA easily--they'll be the ones going from newsstand to newsstand today buying up all the copies of the Post.