1685V
ORDINANCE NO. ~~
AN ORDINANCE TO PRESERVE THE PUBLIC PEACE AND SAFETY IN THE CITY
OF WEST MEMPHIS AND FOR THE RESIDENTS THEREOF BY ESTABLISHING A
CURFEW APPLICABLE TO JUVENILES AND REGULATING THEIR PRESENCE IN
PUBLIC STREETS AND OTHER PLACES AND DEFINING THE DUTIES OF PARENTS
AND GUARDIANS OF JUVENILES AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR THE
VIOLATION THEREOF.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST MEMPHIS,
ARKANSAS:
SECTION 1. FINDING AND PURPOSE: The City Council of the city of
West Memphis hereby .finds there has been a significant breakdown in the
supervision normally provided by certain parents and guidance for
juveniles under eighteen (18) years of age resulting in juveniles being
involved in a wide range of unacceptable behavior including vandalism,
noisy and rowdy behavior, breaking and entering, public drinking and
littering, harassment of residents, and more serious violent crimes
including battery and murder.
The City Council further finds that the offensive activities of
the juveniles are not easily controlled by existing laws and ordinances
because the activities are concealed whenever police officers are
present and that the establishment of reasonable curfew regulations
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~~ will enable the community to better control the free and unobstructed
access to the streets and public places by the majority of residents
and will enable the police to act reasonably and fairly to prevent the
violation of laws and ordinances by juveniles.
The City Council further finds and has determined that curfew
meets a very real local need and that curfe•,a ordinances in other
communities have been a factor in minimizing juvenile delinquency. A
curfew in West Memphis particularly appropriate in view of the basic
residential nature of the community and the sense of the community that
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there is a proper time for the cessation of outdoor activities of
juveniles. That this attitude of the community is reflected in the
curfew hours declared by this Ordinance which takes into consideration
the danger hours for nocturnal crime.
West Memphis is basically a family community. Parental
responsibility for the whereabouts of children is the accepted norm by
'o it of the communit Le al sanctions to enforce
a substantial mad r y Y g
such responsibility have had demonstrated effectiveness in many
communities over the years. The City Council has determined that as
parental control increases there is a likelihood that juvenile
delinquency decreases and that there is a need for nocturnal curfew for
juveniles in West Memphis and that the establishment of a curfew
applicable to juveniles will reinforce the primary authority and
responsibility of parents and guardians over juveniles in their care
and custody.
SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS: For the purposes of the Curfew Ordinance
the following terms, phrases, words and there derivations shall have
the meaning given herein. When not inconsistent with the context,
words used in the present tense including the future, words in the
plural number include the singular and words in the singular number
include the plural. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not
merely directory.
(a) Juvenile or minor is any person under the age of eighteen
(18) or, in equivalence phrasing often herein employed, any person
seventeen (17) years of age or less.
(b) Parent is any person having custody of a juvenile (i) as a
natural or adoptive parent, (ii) as a legal guardian, (iii) as a person
who stands in loco parentis, (iv) as a person to whom legal custody has
been given by order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
(c) Remain means to stay behind, to carry and to stay
unnecessarily upon the streets, including the congregating of groups
(or of interacting minors) totalling three or more persons in which any
juvenile involved would not be using the streets for ordinary or
serious purposes such as mere passage of going home. To implement that
thought with additional precision and precaution, numerous exceptions
are expressly defined in this Ordinance so that this is not a mere
prohibition of presence of juveniles. More and more exceptions become
available with increasing years and advancing maturity as appropriate
in the interest of reasonable regulation.
(d) Street is a way or place, of whatever nature, open to the use
of the public as a matter of right for purposes of vehicular travel or
in the case of a sidewalk thereof for pedestrian travel. The term
street includes that legal right of way, including but not limited to
traffic lanes, the curb, the sidewalks whether paved or unpaved, and
~ ~ any grass plots other grounds found within the legal right of way of a
street. The term street applies irrespective of what it be called or
formally named, whether alley, avenue, court, road or otherwise. The
term street shall also include shopping centers, parking lots, parks,
playgrounds, public buildings, the common areas of public housing
developments, and similar areas that are open to the use of the public.
(e) Time of Night referred to herein is based upon the prevailing
standard of time, whether Central Standard Time or Central Daylight
Savings Time, generally observed at that hour by the public in the
City, prima facie the time then observed in the city police station.
(f) Years of Age continues from one birthday, such as the
seventeenth to (but not including the of ) the next, such as the
eighteenth birthday, making it clear that seventeen or less years of
age be treated a equivalent to the phrase "under eighteen years of
age."
SECTION 3. CURFEW FOR JUVENILES: It shall be unlawful for nay
person seventeen (17) or less years of age [under eighteen (18)] to be
or remain in or upon the streets within the City of West Memphis at
night during the period ending at 5:00 A.M. and beginning
(a) At 12:00 Midnight on Friday and Saturday nights, and
(b) 10:00 P.M. on all other nights.
SECTION 4. EXCEPTIONS: In the following euceptional cases a minor
on a City street during the nocturnal hours prescribed for minors shall
not however, be considered in violation of the Curfew Ordinance.
(a) When accompanied by a parent of such minor.
(b) When accompanied by an adult, at least 21 years of age, who
is not the parent and who is authorized by a parent of such
minor to take said parent's place in accompanying said minor
for a designated period of time and purpose within a
specified area.
(c) When exercising First Amendment rights protected by the
United States Constitution, such as the free exercise of
religion, freedom of speech and the right of such exercise by
first delivering to the person designated by the Chief of
Police to receiver such information, at the Police Department
located at 100 Court Street, a written communication, signed
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by the juvenile and countersigned, by a parent of the
juvenile with their home address and telephone number,
specifying when, where and in what manner the juvenile will
be on the streets at night (during hours when the Curfew
Ordinance is otherwise applicable to said minor) in the
exercise of a First Amendment right.
(d) In case of reasonable necessity for a juvenile remaining on
the streets, but only after the juvenile's parent has
communicated to the person designated by the Chief of Police
to receive such notifications the facts establishing the
reasonable necessity relating to specified streets at a
designated time for a described purpose including points of
origin and destination. A copy of the communication, or of
the police record thereof, duly certified by the Chief of
Police to be correct, with an appropriate notation of the
time it was received and of the names and addresses of the
parent and juvenile, shall be admissible evidence.
(e) When returning home from and within one (1) hour after the
termination of a school or city sponsored activity, or an
activity of a religious or other voluntary association, of
which prior notice, indicating the place and probable time of
termination, has been given in writing, to and duly filed for
immediate reference by, the person designated by the Chief of
Police on duty at the police station, this encouraging, as in
other exceptional situations, responsible conduct on the part
of juveniles involved in such activities and striking a fair
balance for any conflicting interests.
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(f) When engaging in the duties of bona fide employment or
traveling directly, without undue delay or detour from home
to the place employment, or from the place of employment to
the home.
(g) When the minor is in a motor vehicle for the purpose of
interstate travel, either through, beginning or ending in
West Memphis.
SECTION 5. PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY: It shall be unlawful for a
parent of juvenile to permit or allow the juvenile to be or remain upon
any city street under circumstances not constitution an exception to,
or otherwise beyond the scope of, the Curfew Ordinance. This ordinance
is intended to hold neglectful or careless parents to a reasonable
community standard of parental responsibility through an objective
test. It shall be no defense that a parent was indifferent to the
activities or conduct or whereabouts of such juvenile.
(a) Police procedures shall be refined in light of experience and
may provide that the police officer may deliver to a parent
or guardian thereof a juvenile under appropriate
circumstances.
(b) When a parent or guardian has come to take charge of the
juvenile, and the appropriate information has been recorded,
the juvenile shall be released to the custody of such parent.
If the parent cannot be located or fails to take charge of
the juvenile, then the juvenile shall be released in
accordance with Arkansas and federal law.
(c) In the case of a first violation by a juvenile, the Police
Department shall by certified mail or direct service, send
and/or deliver to a parent written notice of the violation
with a warning that any subsequent violation will result in
full enforcement of the Curfew Ordinance, including
enforcement of Parental responsibility and of applicable
penalties.
SECTION 6. ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURE: If a police officer reasonably
believes that a 'uvenile is on the streets in violation of the Curfew
Ordinance, the officer shall notify the juvenile that he or she is in
violation of the ordinance and shall require the juvenile to provide
his or her name, address and telephone number and how to contact his or
her parent or guardian.
In determining the age of the juvenile and in the absence of
convincing evidence, a police officer shall use his or her best
judgment in determine age.
SECTION 7. PENALTIES.
(a) If, after the warning notice pursuant to Section 5 of a first
violation by a juvenile, a parent violates Section 6 (in
connection with a second violation by the juvenile), this
shall be treated as a first offense by the parent. For
parental offenses, a parent may be fined not less than
$100.00, nor more than $500.00.
(b) Any juvenile who shall violate any of the provisions of the
curfew ordinance more than three times shall be reported by
the Chief of Police to the juvenile authorities as a juvenile
in need of supervision and the Chief of Police shall refer
the matter to the Crittenden County Prosecuting Attorney
and/or the Arkansas Department of Human Services and/ or
other appropriate authorities.
SECTION 8. CONSTRUCTION: Severability is intended throughout and
within the provisions of this Curfew Ordinance. If any provision,
including any exception, part, phrase, or term or the application
thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the application
to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby and the
~ validity of the Curfew Ordinance in any and all other respects shall
not be affected thereby..
SECTION 9. REPEALER: That all ordinances or parts of ordinances
in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
SECTION 10. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It having been found and determined
by the City Council of the City of West Memphis, Arkansas, that due to
the serious nature of crimes, including burglary and thefts in the City
of West Memphis, an urgent and immediate need exists to adopt measures
designed to reduce the incidents of crime in the city, an emergency is
hereby declared, and this ordinance being necessary for the
preservation of the peace, health, safety and welfare of the citizens
of West Memphis, Arkansas, shall be in full force and effect from and
~ after the date of its passage and approval.
PASSED AND APPROVED this 6th day of April, 1995.
AL BOA S, Mayor
SPONSORED BY: