Holden Urges Aggressive Enforcement of Youth Curfew Law

Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden, a candidate for mayor, on Wednesday called on police to begin aggressively enforcing a curfew for minors during two potentially volatile trials.

Holden said he will ask Police Chief Willie L. Williams to have officers counsel and, when necessary, arrest youngsters loitering after 10 p.m., beginning this Friday.

Many of the vandals and arsonists who rampaged across the city in last year’s riots were minors, Holden said. “They should have been at home in bed instead.”

At a City Hall news conference, Holden said that as many teen-agers as possible should be kept off the streets to prevent trouble during the current trial of four police officers accused of violating the civil rights of Rodney G. King and during the upcoming trial of those charged with attacking trucker Reginald O. Denny and others.

The validity of that sweeping order came into question Tuesday when a state appellate court overturned convictions of three people who were out after dark, merely walking or driving. The court ruled that police should arrest only those individuals who pose an immediate threat to public safety.

Williams declined to comment on Holden’s proposal.

But a spokesman said the Police Department already enforces the 10 p.m.-until-dawn curfew for those 18 or younger “when appropriate.”

“I don’t want anyone to have the opinion that every 18-year-old on the street after 10 p.m. is going to be subject to arrest,” said department spokesman Lt. John Dunkin. “If a kid goes to a movie at 9 and is still out after 10, is he subject to arrest? No. Neither is a child who is out with his parents.”