ELKHART — The final bell rang Thursday and kids in Elkhart are officially on summer break.

While students are looking forward to the summer, it's a different story for police. They're expecting more calls involving kids getting into trouble, so police are stepping up patrols to keep that from happening.

Mary Ann Lorentz sees vandalism from time to time at her downtown shop. But says it always seems to get worse once school is out.

"We have found out that when the children are out of school, we do find we have issues,” she told WSBT News.

Police agree. They expect to see a jump in juvenile cases involving graffiti, cemetery vandalism, property damage or underage drinking. But this year they plan to crack down.

"We see an increase every year of those things, and what we want to try to do this year is get the word out: If you're out, were going to enforce the law on the books,” explained Elkhart Police Lt. Ed Windbigler. “Ultimately it's the parents’ responsibility to make sure their children are not out past curfew times."

If kids under 18 are caught out past curfew, they will be arrested. Arrest information will be forwarded to juvenile court. It could result in fines for which the parents are responsible.

The city says it is not only a nuisance that they have to deal with a growing number of incidents related to curfew violations; but it also ties up manpower and resources.

"We're using literally thousands of dollars of the taxpayers’ money doing things that are, should be, unnecessary for us to do, rather than getting things done that we need to do,” said Elkhart Mayor Dick Moore. “It cuts into our provision of basic essential services."

“It does take away from us being in your neighborhood or the next person’s neighborhood when we should be,” Windbigler said.

But business owners say putting kids on notice could make a difference.

"We really do appreciate the police department’s efforts in this matter,” Lorentz said.

In Elkhart, kids younger than 15 have a curfew of 11 p.m. every night; 15- to 17-year-olds have a curfew of 11 p.m. on weeknights and 1 a.m. on weekends.

Police say there are times when they don't have to arrest the child even if they have violated curfew.