DC Council votes down extension of city’s summer youth curfew

DC Council votes down extension of city?s summer youth curfew

The D.C. Council voted Tuesday against extending the city?s emergency summer youth curfew ? a program that aimed to keep teens off the streets after dark. FOX 5 DC's Shirin Rajaee has the story.

WASHINGTON - The D.C. Council voted Tuesday against extending the city’s emergency summer youth curfew — a program that aimed to keep teens off the streets after dark.

The decision now ends a policy that had been in place for the past three months.

Under the expanded summer curfew, anyone 17 and younger was not allowed to be in public after 11 p.m. — slightly stricter than the city’s long-standing juvenile curfew that’s been in place since the 1990s.

The emergency order also allowed the police chief to set up special curfew zones in neighborhoods where crime and large late-night gatherings had become a problem.

It was not a broad brush across the District, but specific locations were targeted, such as U Street and Navy Yard.

Late-night violence 

What we know:

Several council members said there wasn’t enough data to prove the summer curfew worked, while others insisted it was an effective short-term tool to reduce late-night violence. 

Councilmember Brooke Pinto led the push to extend the emergency curfew, calling it a proactive safety measure that she says had clear results — including no arrests in the designated curfew zones. But several of her colleagues said extending it without a full hearing was the wrong approach.

"This has been an effective tool. I view it as being proactive — not after we’ve had an incident, but before. Especially around DCPS games." Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker said. 

"What we did in the summer — we gave MPD a tool," he added. "We now have a federal operation…we should give no opportunity to ICE to interact with our young people."

"I’m not comfortable with moving forward," Councilmember Robert White said. "We probably should just hold a hearing. If we believe it’s a good tool, let’s just say that and have that debate."

D.C. residents said that the curfews alone aren't enough to protect children in the District. 

"Is that it? Are there other safety precautions for kids, funding for programs…or is it just about being restrictive? We were all kids once, we don’t always listen," Shadi Akhavan told FOX 5 DC. 

"I think it works, but there’s different levels to it — kids need more, they need someone to look up to, role models," Alexander, another D.C. resident, added. 

What's next:

For now, the emergency curfew will expire, but the conversation isn’t over. If a more permanent proposal is introduced, the Council will need to hold a public hearing — giving residents and city leaders another chance to weigh in.