NEW ROADS — New Roads police arrested a 19-year-old woman accused of driving other three teenagers armed with firearms.

A woman reported seeing people hanging out of a vehicle while brandishing a firearm, according to police. Officers located the vehicle a short time later at Anthony's Convenience Store.

Police say 19-year-old Crystal Merrel was driving the juveniles at the time. She is being booked with three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. The juveniles were booked on charges of aggravated assault and illegal possession of a firearm.

Officers recovered three firearms, two from inside the vehicle and a third from a teen who fled the scene.

According to New Roads police, the three teenagers are part of the same group of young men who have caused problems in the community.

Pointe Coupee Sheriff Rene Thibodeaux weighed in on the broader issue of juvenile crime in the area.

"It's a shame now because when we grew up, you didn't have much juvenile crime at all, now today, a 15-year-old is one of the most dangerous people we have in our community. It's sad," Thibodeaux said.

Thibodeaux said his office has not seen a large number of juvenile cases but focuses on stepping in before young people get involved in gangs.

"Yes, it's a great thing to get these juveniles off the street," he said.

"If they continue, they're going to want to form a gang and then they're going to become violent. And as you can see, the sheriff's office here and our district attorney's office has a zero tolerance for gang members." he said.

New Roads police say they enforce curfew laws, with a 10 p.m. curfew Sunday through Thursday and a midnight curfew on Fridays and Saturdays.

Thibodeaux said his office uses a task force to identify teenagers who may be out late or skipping school before they get into more serious trouble.

"The sheriff's office here in Point Coupee has a special task force with detectives, school resource officers and a special team working at different hours, trying to keep an eye on the juvenile, trying to enforce the laws where they have to be in, the curfew laws," Thibodeaux said.

"We have beefed up things this summer to eliminate as much trouble as we possibly can here in Point Coupee," he said.