DONATE
The City County Council is amending an ordinance in an effort to keep children from being in vulnerable situations.
Members introduced changes, Monday, on new curfew hours for unsupervised 15- to 17-year olds. Under the proposal, teens would no longer be allowed alone in the county after 11 p.m. and before 5 a.m.
As it stands now, they can be out until 1 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Rev. Charles Ellis of the Ten Point Coalition says the change reduces the likelihood of young people putting themselves in vulnerable situations.
"I do think a lot of kids being out unsupervised creates a problem," he said. "So we need supervision. We need our kids properly supervised to protect them, as well as our city."
The change was inspired by Department of Public Safety Efficiency Teams aimed at reducing violence committed by youth offenders.
"Kids at a certain age, they don't need to be out because sometimes unfortunate things happen late at night and we need to protect our kids," said Ellis. "I don't think we need to look at it necessarily as a punitive thing. I think we should look at it as a protective thing."
View More Programs
Support WFYI. We can't do it without you.