Elizabeth City police proposing earlier youth curfew

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.

Elizabeth City police are proposing an hour-earlier curfew for school-age children, but the verdict is out on whether such ordinances are effective or supported by the public.

Elizabeth City saw a rise in shootings and gang activity this year, alarming some local officials and residents.

A curfew has been in place since 1997. The proposed change would make it illegal for those younger than 18 to be out past 10 p.m. on school nights and after 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Current curfews are 11 p.m. on school nights and midnight on weekends. The ordinance would continue to include exceptions for school, sports and church activities.

On Tuesday, about 70 people attended a forum on the

proposal and weighed in with a mix of comments. Students who spoke at the meeting opposed the ordinance. The meeting was sponsored by a crime task force appointed by the mayor.

Another public hearing is planned for October. New curfews could be in place by early November if the City Council approves the change.

Gang leaders are known to recruit children as young as 8 to hold guns or drugs, Eddie Rodriguez, gang investigator for the Elizabeth City Police Department, said Thursday. The curfew works in large part because gang members are most active later at night, he said.

Rodriguez also organizes anti-gang programs for youths.

From July 1 to mid-August, police counted approximately 1,000 unsupervised school- age children on the streets between 10 and 11 p.m., Police Chief Charles Crudup said Thursday.

In 2006, 2007 and through June 2008, police arrested 554 youths under 18, Crudup said. About one quarter of the arrests were after the curfew, he said.

"That's alarming," Crudup said.

For a first offense, a curfew citation would bring a warning, Crudup said. For a second offense, the parents or guardians would be issued a citation and would be fined $50 to $500, he said.

"It puts the parents back in control," Crudup said.

In the 1970s and 1980s, curfews without exceptions were ruled unconstitutional, said Tom Thornburg, an attorney with the University of North Carolina School of Government. Since the late 1990s, most curfews have included exceptions. Lately, the trend is to pass earlier time restrictions, he said.

"Communities are seeing they're having a problem with juvenile crime and don't know what to do about it," he said.

Most evidence about the effectiveness of curfews is anecdotal, Thornburg said.

Time restrictions don't reduce gang activities, said Alex Koroknay-Palicz, executive director of the National Youth Rights Association, based in Washington, D.C.

"We already have laws against those crimes," he said.

But Councilman Rickey King, a former police officer, said Thursday that curfews will help curb crime and protect youths.

"A lot of people think we're trying to take something away from them," he said. "This is another tool for police."

Two years ago, Elizabeth City experienced some of its first signs of gang activity, including blue and red graffiti associated with Bloods and Crips appearing on buildings. Some of those arrested admitted gang affiliation.

Violent crime incidents in Elizabeth City rose to 869 per 100,000 people in 2007 from 700 per 100,000 people in 2006, according to statistics from the North Carolina Attorney General. Elizabeth City has a population of about 20,000, however, so the actual number of violent crimes is far less than the rate.

In 2006, there were 281 reports of shots fired in Pasquotank and Camden counties, according statistics provided by Pasquotank-Camden Central Communications Center. In 2007, there were 486 reports. As of April 15 this year, there were 128 reports, 33 more than at the same time last year.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com