OC HIGH / STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : Curfew: Minor Inconvenience? : Laws: Many communities are trying to keep unsupervised teens off the streets at night, but inconsistencies confuse some youths.

It’s Friday night, and you’re heading to the coffee shop with friends. Nothing sounds better than a cup of steamy hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.

You approach the counter and order your drink. You pull out your wallet. No, not for money--for ID. Order denied. It’s 10:03 p.m., and because you are only 17, you cannot pass go, you cannot collect your hot chocolate, you must go directly home.

Curfew strikes again.

It’s a scenario faced by teens under 18 who are restricted by curfew laws from being out and about from 10 p.m. to 5 or 6 a.m. in most communities.

Some communities seem to pay no attention to curfews, while others are responding in force to complaints about teens loitering after hours.

In Huntington Beach, police last week began a more aggressive approach to enforcing the curfew, particularly in the downtown area. Police announced they would make sweeps of areas where minors have been congregating and take violators of the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew into custody, holding them for release to their parents.

Police said media coverage of the first sweep, announced ahead of time, created a situation more rowdy than the one the sweep was intended to stop. To prevent that from happening again, police say, future sweeps won’t be announced.

Meanwhile, depending on where they are and what they are doing, teens are left scratching their heads--wondering what they can and cannot do under the curfew laws.

Although policies vary slightly, communities throughout Orange County generally have 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfews for minors, to deter them from being on the streets at night.

In Mission Viejo, for example, the policy states: “(I)t shall be unlawful for any minor under the age of 18 years to loiter, idle, wander, stroll, or play in or upon the public streets, highways, roads, alleys, parks, playgrounds, or other public grounds, public places and public buildings, places of amusement and entertainment, vacant lots, or other unsupervised places, or trespass on private property between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. of the following day.”

Whew. Did they leave out any possibilities?

Often, enforcement of curfew laws has been lax and usually left up to individual police officers.

“It is at the officer’s discretion as far as issuing curfew ticket violations,” Orange County Sheriff’s Sgt. Fred Lasani said. “We have confidence in the officers to fairly interpret the intent of the law.”

The intent is to curb unsupervised gatherings of youths--at parking lots, the beach, on the streets, outside businesses.

What’s a teen to do when policies state that it is unlawful to be in places of amusement and entertainment between those hours? Does that mean the movies, a high school football game or even Disneyland is off-limits past 10 p.m.?

No. Those events are supervised, Lasani said. It’s the unsupervised gatherings that are in violation. Deputies try to judicially enforce the curfew in areas where there have been complaints, such as from businesses or property owners, Lasani said.

Take the coffee shop. Maybe 10 teens go inside to have coffee. Friends strolling by see them and decide hop in to shoot the breeze. Pretty soon more acquaintances are hanging out there, many not purchasing anything. That kind of congregation of juveniles can be threatening to a business owner, who sees it as scaring away older customers.

So a business has the option to refuse service to minors after 10 p.m. That decision, it seems, is based on what problems there have been in the past.

Although officers often just give warnings, they have the option of giving a citation. A teen who gets a ticket must appear in court with a parent. If found guilty, first-offenders are fined from $25 to $50; repeat offenders face stiffer penalties. A judge can also require community service. And, no doubt, many teens will face grounding by their parents.

Parents aren’t off the hook, either. Curfew policies state that it is “unlawful for parents to knowingly permit their minors to be on public property, vacant lots or places of entertainment after 10 p.m.”

Again, police say, unsupervised is the key issue. Lasani advises parents to make sure their children are going somewhere that is supervised and are not just hanging out.

Opinions about curfews vary. Some people say it is unconstitutional. Others say it should be up to parents to decide when their kids should come home, rather than having police act as pseudo-parents.

Mission Viejo High School senior Matt Denny, 18, says the curfew law is all right but shouldn’t go into effect until midnight. “Taggers aren’t going to spray-paint before midnight anyway,” he said.

Dave Blaisdell, 17, also a senior at Mission Viejo, said, “I think the curfew law is a joke. The kids know what’s legal and what’s not legal to do. If people are staying within the law, there should be no reason why they can’t stay out late.”

His mother, Linda Blaisdell, said curfew regulations are “good for the most part, but it is too restrictive on non-school nights.”

Pat Davis, the mother of another high school student, said she sees the curfew as “a short-term solution to show people we are serious about crime, as long as the police follow through.”

For teens and parents frustrated by the curfew law, there is this consolation: Everyone turns 18 eventually.

Becky Hsiao and Laurel Gorman are both seniors at Mission Viejo High School.

Bill Would Fine Parents of Scofflaws

Even though a majority of California cities and counties have 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfews for minors, the State Legislature is considering ways to strengthen curfew laws and make parents more responsible for their children’s activities.

The Public Safety Committee is considering a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) that would place a “financial burden” on parents whose children are caught violating curfew.

Umberg’s bill would allow cities and counties to charge parents $50 each time a law enforcement officer takes home a curfew violator.

“It will encourage parents to take a stronger hand with juveniles who are current or potential gang members,” said Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, who is supporting the bill. “It’s an additional tool in the battle against street gangs.”