Curfew Crackdowns

School’s out, but teenagers eager to celebrate may get a rude surprise during the first two weeks of June, when Dallas police will mount a “curfew enforcement operation.” The rationale? Statistics show that crime committed by and against juveniles is down, and police want to keep it that way, says assistant police chief Marlin Price.

The curfew, passed by the city council in 1991, prohibits youths under 17 from being on the streets from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from midnight to 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights. (There are exceptions for kids traveling to and from work,) Since police began enforcing the ordinance in 1994, they have given out more than 4,000 citations, which require teens and their parents to appear in municipal court. The maximum fine is $500.

The American Civil Liberties Union still contends that the curfew is ineffectual and violates teens’ rights, says Carrie Sperling, regional director of the ACLU. “There was a lot of support at first in the minority community, but now there’s concern that there’s selective enforcement and the police are being heavy-handed,” Sperling says.

But Diane Scovell, a parent who has two teenage boys at Hillcrest, thinks the curfew gives parents just “another leg to stand on” when setting limits for their offspring. “They don’t want to get a ticket and I don’t want to pay a ticket,” Scovell says.