Going to a night movie in Fayetteville kids? Better bring mom or dad

“The policy is in response to several incidents at the theater involving large groups of juveniles and an increase in criminal acts,” Fayetteville said in a statement released this week by the Fayetteville Police.

Fayetteville isn’t the only community to adopt such a policy. Others include AMC Southlake 24 in Morrow does not allow anyone under the age of 18 to see a movie after 9 p.m. without an adult or legal guardian. That’s a Clayton County ordinance. AMC Sugarloaf Mills in Lawrenceville has a similar policy that prevents those under 17 from going to movies after 9 p.m. without an adult.

“It’s something we’re hearing about more,” said Patrick Corcoran with the National Association of Theatre Owners, a Washington,D.C. trade group that represents 32,000 movie screens nationwide. “I’m not sure there’s necessarily more of it. There more awareness of it though. The reason many theaters do this is for the comfort of all patrons. It varies company by company, market by market and theater by theater.”

Since evenings and weekends are prime times for theaters,“they want to be able to manage those times,” Corcoran added.

Fayetteville Police Chief Scott Pitts came up with the idea — and Cinemark officials agreed —after police began noticing increasing crowds of kids and teenagers in the last several months, Fayetteville Police Lt. Mike Whitlow said. In some cases, crowds have swelled to between 50 and 100 kids. As result, some families and individuals looking to a spend a quiet evening at the movies steer clear of Tinseltown, Whitlow said.

“The average, everyday teenagers - four or five teens going to the movies together - don’t cause a problem,” Whitlow added.

So, what about the 16-year-old couple on a first date?

“The movie theater and police will have to take those kinds of cases on a case-by-case basis,” Whitlow said, adding “A 16-year-old couple on a first date really shouldn’t be at a movie past nine at night anyway. Either the parents are going to be with them or it’s going to alter their plans. Go to a four o’clock movie and then go eat somewhere.”

Under the new rule, parents and guardians who do tag along can bring up to six kids or teenagers at a time. If an unaccompanied minor or teenager is watching a movie that lets out after 6 p.m., they must be picked up promptly once it’s over. Efforts to reach officials at Cinemark Theatres’ Plano, Tex. headquarters were unsuccessful .

“I don’t like the policy. It’s not being fair,” said Oscar Flores, who beat the clock by less than a month. He turned 17 in April. The Hampton teenager and his 18-year-old girlfriend are regulars at Tinseltown. “They’re going to lose money because a lot of teenagers go to the movies there, usually after school or on the weekends. Tinseltown is really meant for teenagers because they have an arcade room,” Flores said. .

“I’ve seen big crowds of teenagers but they were always calm.”

Fayette school board member Leonard Presberg said children shouldn’t be punished for the actions of a few.

“We send the wrong message when we tell our kids they can’t do normal things just because of their age,” said Presberg, who has three chidren ages 13, 17 and 20. “Our whole educational system is designed to teach our children to be responsible citizens and yet we tell them they can’t even go to the movies without supervision.”

Fayetteville police’s Whitlow said they believe it is the right thing to do. “We’re not trying to create a city where people aren’t welcome to do what they want to do on Friday and Saturday night, but because unescorted juveniles have caused some security issues, we feel like it’s necessary to do this.”