Editors' Note: The Covington News received the following from the city of Covington. It has been edited for clarity.

There is a disturbing trend that has reached our community where groups of unsupervised young people gather in a public place to cause disruptive dangerous mob like behavior. We're not unique. This type of behavior plagues communities like ours all over the country. 

It is critical for parents or guardians to be aware of their children’s involvement in disruptive activities like what occurred  Thursday night on the square. 

 Large groups of people gathered in one place can lead to situations that are dominated by what psychologists refer to as “mob mentality.” This can oftentimes create a stampede when people run away from a perceived danger. It also impacts one’s choices, morals, and reasoning. There is a level of awareness and healthy fear that people must exhibit when they choose to venture out into today’s society, much like getting into a car to drive on an interstate or even through a relatively small town, knowing there are inherent and even unexpected risks.

 However, when contagion theory (individuals actions affect a crowd) collides with convergence theory (the actions of a crowd influence an individual), chaos can ensue due to the mob mentality. These occurrences are not unique to organized events as they can happen anywhere a large crowd has chosen to gather such as on the Square on Halloween night. 

 Parents can help solve this problem by becoming more aware of their children's involvement in loosely organized mobs through various ways, including seeing online video posts, being alerted by school officials, noticing unusual behavior in their child, or even being directly informed by other parents or the police. We believe Halloween night’s activities were again at least relatively organized and communicated to others via social media platforms. 

 Every parent or guardian needs to be confident that their teen’s Halloween activities are safe, legal, and not disruptive. This involves asking appropriate questions and monitoring their social media communications. If they learn that an activity is being organized, contact law enforcement. 

 “Many of the parents that were interviewed Halloween night had been lied to by their teen regarding what their children would actually be doing. They were dropped off on our town square believing there were organized activities at this location, and there were not,” -Ken Malcom, City of Covington Public Information Officer/Director of Tourism and Downtown Development. 

 A message to those in the crowd: It's normal to feel unsure in some situations, and following the crowd isn't always the best choice. Instead, always be aware of your situation and assess the area around you, including all possible exit points.  If you begin to feel uncomfortable, it is best to consider leaving. In the event of a stampede, try to remain calm and head toward one of your assessed exits or find a safe area away from the stampede.