Officials May Tighten Youth Curfew Rules

It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your teenager is?

That’s the question parents here may have to start asking themselves if a new anti-loitering ordinance and curfew enforcement rules are approved by the Simi Valley City Council on Monday night.

The new rules would result in stricter enforcement of a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for those under 18 years of age and prohibit loitering at those times. They are part of a series of recommendations made last month by the city’s Community Gang Task Force.

City Atty. John Torrance spent much of the past week redrafting the rules to ensure that they would be legally enforceable and constitutional.

The ordinance was modeled after similar curfew rules adopted in Dallas, Torrance said.

“That ordinance has stood up to constitutional challenges,” Torrance said.

Simi Valley also incorporated some measures adopted in similar rules in Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Fillmore, Torrance said. The curfew does include some exceptions.

“This is not a police state and we don’t want to be so strict that a 16-year-old violates the curfew every time they come out of a movie that goes past 10 p.m.,” said Mayor Greg Stratton.

At the same time Stratton said the city would like to make sure that if a teenager does not have a legitimate reason to be out past 10 p.m. that they not be allowed to just hang out on a street corner with friends into the wee hours of the night.

Councilman Paul Miller, who co-chaired the Gang Task Force with Councilwoman Barbara Williamson, said the new rules should be strict.

“Let’s face it, there’s a difference between behaving and going to a movie that gets out at 10 or 11 and hanging around a street corner doing nothing and for no good reason,” Miller said. “What we’re trying to address relates to the gang problem . . . I’m sure someone may want to challenge the rules, but there’s a greater good here and that is public safety.”

Although city officials recognized that there may be some argument made that on weekends and during vacation time a 10 p.m. curfew is unreasonable, the Police Department said that it is precisely during those periods that they have the most youth problems.

In addition, because neighboring communities, such as Thousand Oaks, have had success with curfew laws, Simi Valley officials felt that adopting similar rules would discourage youth from coming to their city to avoid a curfew.

The ordinance also includes a provision for charging parents for the cost of police response if their children are convicted of curfew violations. In addition, parents could be fined up to $2,500 when their child violates the curfew, fails to obey any lawful order of a law enforcement or probation officer, or is taken into custody for such an offense.

“It makes parents more aware and more involved in what their kids are up to,” said Miller.

The curfew does have exceptions if the youth is accompanied by a parent or guardian, is on an errand at the direction of a parent or guardian or is involved in interstate travel, working or returning home from work. Other exceptions are if a youth is involved in an emergency situation, at an official school or city function, or on a public sidewalk next to his home provided that there have been no complaints from neighbors.

Youths who are married, have been married or “otherwise emancipated” or on active duty as a member of the U.S. military are exempted from the rules.