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1518i ORDINANCE 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 WEST MEMPHIS, L 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 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 a curfew meets a very real local need and that curfew ordinances in other communities have been a factor in minimizing juvenile delinquency. A curfew in West Memphis is particularly appropriate in view of the basic residential nature of the community and the sense of the community that 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 a substantial majority of the community. Legal sanctions to enforce 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 or 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 any 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 exceptional 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 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. (f) When engaging in the duties of bona fide employment or traveling directly, without undue delay or detour from home to the place of 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 juvenile 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 tin 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. ~ p (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. DATES OF OPERATION: In order to allow implementation of administrative procedures and requirements of this Ordinance by the Police Department, the first date and time of the curfew shat 1 be ~ pa, u ~ . I5`C a, at I ~o i This Ordinance shall expire and shall cease to be in effect after 5:00 a.m. on ~zem~ 30. Iq9~ . SECTION 10. REPEALER: That all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed. SECTION 11. EMERGENCY: That it is hereby determined the City ncil of the City of West Memphis that passage of this ordinance i ecessary public health, safety and we Memphis, THEREFORE, an rgen and this Ordina shall be in after t date of its adoption for the p f the cy is her full force subject to ~rvation of the citizens of West declared to exist and of f rom and the limitations et in Section 9. r ADOPTED this s~ day of March, 1992. ITH M. INGRAM, Mayo ATTEST: DAN CRAFT, Ci y er SPONSORED BY: