Moorpark to Consider Expanding Curfew Law

Joining a countywide trend to crack down on school truancy as well as late-night shenanigans, the City Council will consider beefing up its curfew rules for minors to include school hours.

The cities of Thousand Oaks and Fillmore recently approved similar rules, and at a meeting tonight, the Moorpark City Council will consider adding the amendment to the city’s 10 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew law. The new curfew hours would range from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The new rules could also include a provision that would charge parents up to $500 to pay the costs of a deputy’s time spent dealing with a truant student.

But some council members are not convinced the rules are necessary.

“I have some real questions about this,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said. “I want to know what precipitated it. Is it really needed, because this could certainly have an impact on parents.”

According to statistics from the Sheriff’s Department, half of the disturbance calls between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. in Thousand Oaks are caused by teenagers. Curfew rules in Thousand Oaks and Fillmore call for fines of up to $2,500 for violations.

Although he did not have statistics for Moorpark, Sgt. Rich Hindman of the Moorpark enforcement division of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said that a significant number of burglaries and vandalism in the city is committed by juveniles during school hours.

“Daytime, when people are at work and away from home, is your easiest target time for residential burglaries and vandalism,” Hindman said.

The new rules would also add more of a bite to the existing curfew. Moorpark has had a curfew law for more than a decade, but penalties have been light.

A citation for a curfew violation might only mean a short class on the perils of petty crime or a stint of community service.

If the council approves the new rules, teenagers out past 10 p.m. or cutting classes could lose their driving privileges, and their parents might end up paying up to $500. The new rules would also speed up the processing of curfew violations, Hindman said.

“We will probably continue to enforce the curfew as we have in the past, and that gives a lot of discretion to the individual deputies,” he said.

But council members in Moorpark said they need more information before agreeing to the new rules.

“I don’t necessarily have a problem with it,” Councilman Patrick Hunter said. “I could see how this would be a good tool for deputies. But I’d still like to see what the genesis of this is. Are there a lot of violations, or an overwhelming number of calls for service to deal with teenage truants? I’d like to know.”