Informed Opinions on Today’s Topics : LAPD to Teens: Be Home by 10--or Else

Nightly curfews for teenagers in Los Angeles have been on the books for years, but not always enforced.

But in an attempt to crack down on crime, police and city officials are considering a plan to enforce the curfew in five city police divisions, including Devonshire and Foothill in the San Fernando Valley.

Unable to maintain a constant effort, police commanders would instead pick certain nights to divert officers to curfew enforcement. Teens out after 10 p.m. without a good reason--such as going to or from a job or an organized event--would receive citations ordering them to appear in juvenile court with their parents, and they could be fined $135.

Police plan to expand the program eventually to all of its divisions when the resources are available, but in the meantime critics have attacked the plan as piecemeal. Others criticize the legality of curfews themselves. However, police say the curfew is meant to protect teens as well as adults.

Should Los Angeles adopt a new plan to crack down on curfew violations?

City Councilwoman Laura Chick:

“It is a step in the right direction and it’s very important that we have an effectiveness evaluation to determine, ‘Is it working?’ . . . [As to the staggered start for a crackdown,] we don’t live in a perfect world. I’m willing to go in a direction that is less than perfect. . . . Taxpayers need to know they will get a bang for their buck and solve the crime problem as well and I think this will do that.”

William “Blinky” Rodriguez, gang peace negotiator and community activist:

“I would like to see things offered for youth to do after 10 p.m. . . . During the summer, it’s going to be interesting to see. In the summer these homes are going to be hot as ovens. How will they entertain themselves? Hardly anybody goes to sleep at 10 p.m. at night.”

LAPD Capt. Stuart Maislin, Juvenile Division:

“We are not out trying to hassle them. We’re out trying to protect them, for one, because they are often victims of crimes. . . . I would expect to see fewer juvenile victims of crime. That, in and of itself, will be a victory. . . . It’s a way of really beginning the process to get the families what they need and get back on track, just getting them into the system, diagnosing their needs and finding solutions to the problems before [their children] become criminals as adults later on.”

Robert Pugsley, professor of criminal law at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles:

“In general, I believe curfews do not work effectively for any sustained period of time because most communities . . . do not have the police power, the enforcement personnel to really make it stick. . . . So a curfew is always overly broad and restrictive of the legitimate activities of innocent persons. Therefore, curfews are always subject to legal challenge. That does not mean they’re going to be knocked down every time, but they will draw a challenge.”

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