Curfew Ordinance

Curfew Ordnance Amendment 1st reading.mp3

Marie Hess collected over 500 signatures on a petition to make the curfew Sunday through Thursday until 9pm and Friday and Saturday until 10pm for all persons under the age of 18 all year long; with exceptions for school activities.

There was a lively discussion among City Council members concerning the City of Coatesville’s curfew ordinance:

During the discussion of the Curfew Ordnance City Council President Ed Simpson pointed out that the Curfew Ordinance was amended during the arson fires emergency to 8pm for all persons under the age of 18 and was never changed back.  So in effect the Curfew is now 8pm. 

Up for discussion was changing the Curfew back to the original Curfew Ordinance and changing the time from 10pm for under 18 and under to 9pm. The Curfew Ordinance for those under 12 was at 9pm.

City Councilperson Mary Eggleston said, “For 7 years we have changed the Curfew twice a year, every year for the last 7 years and it doesn’t make very much difference at all. The responsibility falls on the parents… I just want to encourage the public, encourage the family, households, neighborhoods; police you own area and if you see some little kids outside, shoo them on their way and send them home.”

City Council President Ed Simpson, “O, I tried that Mr. Eggleston, just the other night… the names I was called and the threats.”

Mr. Eggleston, “Well when that happens, then you call the police.”

Mr.  Simpson, “I did that too and I had a mother come up to us, we were standing there and her exact words to the police officer were, ‘Who rolled up on my son and pulled a gun.’

After the police officer talked to this juvenile and he said I am going to go talk to your parents.  He was dialing on his cell phone as he was peddling his little bicycle away and she came five minutes later and her exact words were, ‘Who rolled up on my son with a gun’.  And he goes, ‘What’s your son’s name?’ She goes, ‘Well I don’t know if I want to give it to you.’ And he goes, ‘Well you need to give me his name.’ If it is indeed a real name that he gave me, there is just what you are talking about, the parents don’t care.

Mr. Marty Eggleston, “We have constantly played around the possibility of a penalty phase in parents not bringing their children for curfew and so on. Quite honestly I feel that if we make a penalty that is substantial enough to encourage parents to get their children home, trust me we will see a change….

Ms. Karen Jorgenson, “We had that before. Where is it? It was in here.”

Coatesville Councilor John Carnes, “It’s in there.”

Ms. Jorgenson, “Right, it’s in there.”

Mr. Eggleston, “And who’s exercising it?”

Ms. Jorgenson, “That’s exactly what Chief Canale was talking about with the quality of life and how those are being enforced.  So it’s like the City is moving in that direction. You’ve got almost the same speeches again, that’s fine, but we’ve got that in place and we are moving forward and if we want to change the hours and enforce them. I’m not personally objecting… I’m willing to give that a chance and I understand that there is a level of frustration because of the hours being changed. Well I’ve only been on Council for 3 years, I do remember that that does come up every year.

Mr. Eggleston, “My frustration is not so much the hours that it is as the enforcement of it. I’m not overly concerned about the hours. The hours are whatever they are.  As Mr. Simpson mentioned just a few minutes ago the original hours haven’t been reinstituted up to this point. It’s been an 8 o’clock curfew and it hasn’t been recognized or exercised in any way shape or form since we changed it…”

Ms. Jorgenson, “My question is, how do you expect it to be enforced?”

Mr. Eggleston, “I’ll give you an example, a perfect example, those young fellows that Mr. Simpson was referring to just a few moments ago. When the police are called on that young fellow, they then speak to the parent. That parent is cited on the spot with the child being out after curfew that will send a strong message. And that way you don’t have parents popping off at police officers…”

Mr. Carnes, “It looks like Council dealt with this fairly significantly. In the enforcement procedures, Mr. President, when a police officer finds somebody, a minor, out on the streets they are supposed to take from the minor their name and address, age and name of their parents. Then, in order to safeguard the person, they take the minor into custody and notify the parents. If the parent cannot be located then they take the child to the Chester County Juvenile Authority. In a first violation, if the parents do not make contact within 17 hours after the violation they send the parents, by certified mail, a notice of the violation and then after that it starts to go directly against the parents and the parents start to take a hit of $250 etcetera going up to $1000 and prison.”

Mr. Simpson, “So it’s pretty serious. How many times do you think we’ve done that?”

Ms. Jorgenson, “Well I think you need to ask Chief Canale that….”

Mr. Simpson, “I think that if we want to change the hours, we change the hours and I think that we send a message through Mr. Reed to the police department.”

Mr. Jarrell Brazzle, “We might want to invest in a bus then.”

Mr. Reed, “We have a bus…”

Mr. Simpson, “There you go.”

The first reading of the Amendment of the Curfew hours was passed with all of Council voting in favor. 

See:

Several very well spoken people commented on our curfew at last night's Coatesville City Council Meeting. Some of their commentary may be shocking to some people. I think it's on the spot. 

See:

After shooting, petition supports curfew in city

A recording of Marie Hess addressing Coatesville City Council at September 13, 2010 City Council Meeting: