OTTAWA — West-end Ottawa police are getting tough with teens engaged in "car rallies" in which participants win points for running naked, kidnapping younger students, theft and vandalism.

Students involved in the racy scavenger hunts are exposing themselves and others to danger, said Sgt. Patricia Ferguson, while police, fire and paramedic services are being tied up with calls about the shenanigans.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, police were called to several Kanata fast food restaurants that reported teens streaking through the premises and nude teens directing traffic. Both dares were among the challenges on a list confiscated by police.

"Some of this is just atrocious," said Ferguson, who supervises police officers who work with schools.

"We're busy enough as it is."

Many of the challenges involve nudity. According to the list, a recent car rally scheduled to start in the parking lot of the Kanata Loblaw Superstore at 7 p.m was slated to culminate at 10:45 p.m. in the parking lot of a Kars middle school with a "naked mile."

"They're obviously very comfortable in their own skins," Ferguson observes drily.

And "randoms" be warned: these roving bands of teens might be contemplating giving you a wedgie or pantsing you.

In teen slang, "random" is used as a noun, meaning a stranger or person you don't know. "Pants" is a verb that means to pull down another person's trousers in a surprise manoeuvre. Many car rally dares involve candid camera-like absurdities with strangers.

Ferguson said reports of rally-related incidents have been escalating, so police are ramping up their efforts as well. Teens involved in the Thanksgiving weekend incidents got off with warnings, but officers have been told to lay charges next time.

Ferguson said police are sending letters home to parents with children in high schools in Kanata, Stittsville and West Carleton.

Meanwhile, both police and school administrators emphasize that car rallies are not sanctioned by schools, although the rallies are supposedly being held to raise money to pay for graduation festivities.

Dares range from the relatively tame -- taking a team photo with the Kanata sign or having a picnic in a store complete with blanket and real food -- to stealing a street sign, chugging alcohol, giving a stranger a lap dance and getting a nude group photo. Most of the challenges require photo or video evidence. Among instructions on the list is a warning not to get arrested and a reminder that organizers are not responsible for trouble or injuries.

"NAKED MEANS NAKED! Other than shoes, socks and piercings," says one of the confiscated lists, which also instructs: "RANDOM MEANS RANDOM. It also means you cannot use the same random for multiple dares. You have to find a new one!"

Ferguson said it's impossible to say how many of the dares are actually completed, but police are concerned about the dares that are outright illegal, including one that asked students to drive at 150 km/h on Highway 417 and others that required competitors to abduct younger students or to bite a stranger's buttocks.

"That's assault," she said, adding that for some dares there are consequences under the Criminal Code, Highway Traffic Act and the province's Parental Responsibility Act, which holds parents financially responsible for damage caused by children under the age of 18.

Police believe that so far the only abductees have been younger siblings of players. Although the use of alcohol is not heavily promoted, Ferguson said police believe there is drinking involved.

New technology means teens can change their plans on the fly through cellphone and text messages, warning each other when police are present.

In one case, students had agreed to meet in the parking lot of an arena, but left because two police cars happened to be there, she said.

"They're very fluid and mobile."

Reports of lewd behaviour have already had an impact on west-end schools.

Brid McDonald, principal at All Saints Catholic High School in Kanata, said students at the school were "absolutely distraught" after the school was implicated in a report that quoted an unnamed former student who recounted stripping in a Kanata Centrum bar with another female student last summer. "This is not a reflection of our students," said McDonald. "Kids are saying 'That's stupid. Who would do that?' "

Scavenger hunts happen every year, although they are not sanctioned by the school. "Are there car rallies? Yes, there are. They put pillars in football fields and steal signs," she said.

This week, the school is holding an assembly for Grade 9 students to discuss scenarios involving choices faced by teens. Graduating students take a pledge not to drink and drive. "My faith is 100 per cent behind kids," said McDonald.

"I can't control what goes on out there. I can only control what goes on inside the school."

Ferguson said she can't pin car rallies to one school or one school board, but there is an element of tradition and ritual involved, which makes them harder to stop.

She urges parents to ask questions of any teen who asks to borrow the family car on a Friday or Saturday night. Parents will feel the pain if a child is clocked driving at 150 km/h. "If they're going 50 kilometres over the speed limit, the vehicle can be seized."

Meanwhile, Ferguson has spoken to her counterpart in the east end and there appears to be no corresponding car rally activity downtown or in the east end.

"It does seem to be a west-end phenomenon."

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