Curfew ordinance to get public hearing

Residents will have a chance to give city leaders their own opinions of a proposed ordinance aimed at getting kids off the streets at night.

City Council members will hold a public hearing on the proposal at 7 p.m. May 30, in the Council Chamber at City Hall.

The ordinance would allow police to stop young people who are out after curfew without parental permission. Children 15 years old or younger would have a curfew of 11 p.m. The curfew for teens up to 18 would be midnight.

A warning would be given to any child out after curfew during the first 30 days. After that, police would call the child's home and notify his parents that the child was found on the street after hours. If an officer could not contact a parent or guardian, the child would be taken to the police station while an officer continued trying to contact someone.

Under extreme circumstances, kids who refuse to cooperate with police could be arrested, referred to juvenile court and possibly adjudicated as a delinquent.

Business owners would be responsible for making sure children are not hanging out in their stores or parking lots after hours.

The intent of the proposed ordinance would be to make parents responsible for their children, Kinston Public Safety Department Director Greg Smith said.

"It's a small minority of kids out there causing problems," Smith said.

Councilman Joe Tyson told Smith the curfew must be enforced equally in all areas of town. Tyson, who said he supports the curfew idea, objected to the original suggested time of 11 p.m. for all ages, saying some movies aren't over until midnight.

Councilman Van Braxton said business operators should not be held responsible for kids in their stores or parking lots after curfew, but other council members disagreed.

Smith assured council members that police would not be stopping cars to check ages of drivers or passengers. However, if a teen were stopped at a license or DUI checkpoint, officers would determine the ages of teens in the car, and follow the curfew ordinance.

"Officers are taking 9 mm guns off kids," Smith said. "I don't know that this ordinance will solve it all, but I would feel really bad if a kid got shot this summer by someone carrying one of those guns."