WJZ obtains Baltimore police policy outlining how officers will enforce youth curfews
BALTIMORE - A youth curfew in Baltimore will be enforced starting on Friday.
The citywide curfew for anyone younger than 14 will be 9 p.m. each day. For those younger than 17, the curfew will be 11 p.m. on weekends and 10 p.m. on weekdays. You can read the policy here, which does not apply to a minor with a parent or guardian.
The curfew will continue through Sept. 4.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott will address the City's plan for summer youth programs and enforcing the curfew at a press conference on Wednesday. There will also be a public hearing on the curfew where the public can express their concerns.
WJZ News obtained the police department's memorandum explaining how the curfew will be implemented. Officers will focus on youth crowds of 10 or more in public places in Baltimore.
The document provides step-by-step instructions on how it will be done. It also clearly states police do not want officers to have unnecessary interactions with children.
"Parents, unfortunately, are losing their grip on their own children," Baltimore resident Deb Smith said.
Baltimore's curfew has been around for years but Mayor Scott announced last month it would be implemented starting Memorial Day weekend after several incidents of violence and homicides involving young people.
On Easter Sunday two teenagers were shot during a large gathering at the Inner Harbor.
"Children should be curfewed if you ask me," Smith said.
The policy says that if officers come across large groups of youth, they must turn on their body-worn cameras, call a supervisor and then call for police backup.
Then, officers are to relocate the minors to the Youth Connection Center, which is a center that connects children and families to certain services, according to the policy.
The memorandum also includes a script of what officers are supposed to say to the young people to get them to leave.
However, only Youth Connection Center employees will be able to escort kids to the connection centers, and police are not permitted to stop or take minors into custody just because of a curfew violation.
"Enforcement of a juvenile curfew is necessary to safeguard and protect our City's youth," the memorandum states. "However, the enforcement of the curfew is not intended to lead to an unnecessary increase in interaction between BPD and the City's young people."
The policy continues..."This objective is consistent with the Consent Decree's goal of reducing youth involvement with juvenile and criminal justice systems."
Mayor Scott spoke on the purpose of this plan in April.
"This is about keeping them, as many of them, as possible off the street to protect them when they're out alone by themselves or in groups by themselves," Mayor Scott said. "It's also about making sure we can figure out what's going on with them and their families so that we can help to provide that service."
Here's how the curfew works:
- Those under 14 have to be inside by 9 p.m.
- Those between the ages of 14 to 16 have to be inside by 10 p.m. on school nights and 11 p.m. on weekends.
- It goes into effect the Friday before Memorial Day and lasts through the last Sunday in August.
- Parents face fines up to $500.
- Children out after hours will be brought to one of two Youth Connection Centers in Baltimore City.
The policy also states the curfew does not apply to minors exercising First Amendment Rights, a driver on a highway, leaving or going to an job, in an emergency, outside near their homes or attending a religious, recreation or school activity with an adult.
The youth curfew in Baltimore is nothing new and neither is the controversy surrounding it.
In 2014, then Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake drew protests when she supported the stricter curfew that's now on the books.
"Never do we place young people in handcuffs for curfews," Mayor Scott said. "That's arresting them. This is not about arresting them."
We got mixed reviews from parents on the policy.
Some are for it.
"I think there definitely needs to be a sense of responsibility and an expectation where they have an understanding of what they should and shouldn't do," Baltimore resident Maurice Floyd said.
While others are skeptical that it'll work.
"I have to look at our leadership and wonder what it is that they're not doing that could be effective and what could be effective they're not doing," Smith said.
