Most of the time, when 15-year-old Emmanuel Young is out past 9 p.m., he’s not playing in a sports game or walking home from work. He’s doing what he said most kids his age do – “just hanging out.”
They walk around the schools or sit in the park. He said sometimes the police approach him and his friends and tell them to go home. But Young’s parents don’t have a set curfew for him, and he doesn’t think it’s fair that the police can tell him to be home that early.
This summer, however, kids in Westbrook might be able to stay out later without having to watch their backs.
The City Council will talk about whether to change a curfew ordinance adopted in December, so that children under 18 can stay out unsupervised until 10 or 11 p.m., as opposed to 9.
The ordinance was originally adopted to give the police department a tool to deal with juveniles who are hanging out on the streets at night, when a lot of vandalism and car thefts were occurring – and, according to Police Chief Bill Baker, still are.
Though Young’s parents may not be among them, Baker said he’s heard from the mothers and fathers of many hard-to-handle teens, who are appreciative of the help patrol officers have given them in making sure their children are safe and staying out of trouble.
Councilor Suzanne Joyce asked that the council reconsider the time the curfew starts. Originally, she thought it should be pushed back an hour, but, after seeing a baseball game played under the lights past 11 p.m., she thinks it needs to be extended by two hours.
But Baker believes the ordinance is already written so kids attending or walking home from a baseball game aren’t subject to the law.
“I think it’s helpful and appropriate the way it is,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback.”
The ordinance reads that it’s against the law “for any minor to loiter or to gather in a group of three or more minors upon any street, park, school or other public property…between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.”
The exceptions include a child who is accompanied by an adult, on the sidewalk of his or her house, returning from school, working or involved in a religious or volunteer activity.
Baker said the purpose of the ordinance is not to charge every minor who’s in public past 9 p.m., but “to give some leverage” to officers when they question the ones they suspect might be up to something.
He said only one minor has been issued a summons for breaking the curfew ordinance since its adoption, but the law has enabled officers to have many informal encounters with juveniles, which have possibly prevented crimes from happening.
“It’s serving its purpose,” Baker said.
The City Council will discuss the proposed change at a meeting June 1 at 7 p.m. in Room 114 at Westbrook High School. The meeting was originally scheduled for Monday, May 18, but was changed after American Journal deadline.
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