Lilburn wants to keep its streets quiet and buildings clean after midnight. That means parents in town might want to start making regular bed checks.
City leaders have approved a curfew for children 17 and younger: 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11:59 a.m. to 6 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. In related moves, they have also strengthened penalties for parents whose children are repeat curfew violators and people caught defacing property with graffiti.
Police say there's been an uptick of graffiti around town and more reports of criminal trespassing after midnight much of which they blame on juvenile offenders.. They said the curfew would give officers a critical tool to prevent trouble.
"We hope word gets out to the community so parents become involved and kids aren't out at all," Police Chief Bruce Hedley said. "We're trying different approaches to keeping the community safe."
But some residents viewed the curfew with suspicion, saying they hoped officers wouldn't use the law as an opportunity to hassle law-abiding teenagers.
"I'm OK with it as long as the officers don't overstep their bounds," said Angel Alonso, a resident and father of a 14-year-old daughter. "It's too easy for them to cross the line."
Lilburn's call for youth curfew enforcement is not uncommon in metro Atlanta. Cities such as Alpharetta and Norcross have similar laws on their books and Atlanta last year promised to renew its commitment to enforcing a long-standing youth curfew ordinance often ignored. Cobb and Gwinnett county officials follow state law, which requires youths to be home at similar hours to Lilburn's ordinance unless supervised by an adult, and enforce curfews on a case-by-case basis.
Atlanta, for example, has experimented with curfews for years. That includes the late 1970s and early 1980s when the city dealt with a notorious series of child murders, with 28 black children and young adults abducted and killed.
Accordingly, part of Hedley's pitch for a curfew was to protect children from being victims of late-night crime.
"To minimize those instances where juveniles are vulnerable to the elements, (this law) gives our officers the tools to remove them from the situation," said Hedley, who worked for Atlanta police for nearly 20 years before retiring in June 2008.
Under the law, anyone found in violation of the curfew will be taken home and their parents will receive a warning on the first offense. Subsequent violations could result in parents facing penalties up to $1,000 in finese and 180 days in jail.
Business owners and operators could face similar penalties for failing to report violations to the police.
Exceptions to the curfew include minors who are accompanied by their parents or guardians, running "emergency errands," returning home from work, school or recreational activities, among other things.
The law went into effect upon its approval July 9 by the City Council. Hedley said officers have not yet had to enforce the ordinance.
Thor Johnson, one of the leaders of non-profit group SafetySmart Lilburn and father of a 19-year-old son, said he supported the curfew but with a few reservations.
"I just want to make sure it's not targeted at anyone," Johnson said.
That echoed the concerns of Mike Males, senior research fellow at the non-profit San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. Males said his research has found curfews tend to disproportionately target black and Hispanic teenagers, and that they fail to make a city safer because they usually remove law-abiding youth from the streets.
"No matter how much (police) deny it, that's what happens," Males said. "And in the end, they make crime worse."
Hedley said his agency would need time to determine its effectiveness and would enforce the law "without regards to race and/or sex."
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