The city”s newly formed Curfew Task Force met for the first time Wednesday and heard reports from officers in the Starkville Police Department which express doubt over whether a juvenile curfew would result in a decrease in crime.
The Task Force ultimately will recommend to the city”s Board of Aldermen whether or not to institute a juvenile curfew, but for now it will study a magnitude of reports it received Wednesday on existing curfews in other cities and on crime trends in Starkville.
According to statistics provided by the Starkville Police Department, a majority of crimes in the city are committed by adults, not juveniles.
Adults were charged with disorderly conduct nearly 280 times from 2008 to the present, while juveniles were charged with the same offense less than 40 times. Adults also outnumbered juveniles in burglaries approximately 46 to 11, in larceny 204 to 52 and in vandalism 33 to 9. Additionally, adults were charged with drug violations 442 times, compared to just 29 for juveniles.
“There is crime, but a majority of our crimes are committed by adults,” Starkville Police Department Capt. Chris Thomas said.
SPD Capt. Frank Nichols agreed with Thomas” assessment and said problems with today”s youth can be solved with parental guidance, education, job skills and productive activities. He also said schools, the SPD, the Department of Human Services, churches, community leaders and elected officials should work together to guide local youth.
“Having a curfew isn”t really going to solve anything,” Nichols said.
Still, Task Force member and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins urged the group to investigate the issue further and, after the meeting, said he wants his fellow aldermen to approve a curfew, despite the comments by Nichols and Thomas.
“I am not satisfied with the representations made by the police department today that we don”t have any crime being committed by young people,” Perkins said. “I just beg to differ with that without any evidence supporting the allegations. So, as we move further on in this process, we will be able to gather relevant and sufficient information so we can make a recommendation to the Board (of Aldermen) for it to make a well-informed decision for the city of Starkville.”
“Basically, the information they gave us today was just provided at the meeting and, from my quick observation, it did not indicate that we have no crime here in the city of Starkville,” Perkins said when pressed about SPD”s statistics. “I think we know as a matter of general information that crime is very prevalent here in this community. Any time you can do anything positive to help combat crime, then that”s what we should do.”
Perkins said he wants the city to institute a midnight curfew, though he”s not yet sure what age he would like to see serve as the cutoff.
“Any ordinance that would keep people indoors after midnight, whether they”re 18 and under or 17 and under or 16 and under, would be a good starting point,” Perkins said. “The only thing for young people out on our streets after midnight is trouble.”
Exceptions could be made for youth who would need to break the curfew for work, or if they are with a legal guardian, or if they are just passing through town, among other reasons, Perkins said.
Mayor Parker Wiseman and city Chief Administrative Officer Lynn Spruill are on the Task Force and will study up on other cities which have instituted curfews and what kinds of resources were needed when the restrictions were implemented, plus other issues, like laws regarding juvenile detention facilities and what towns without those facilities do with juveniles detained by police.
Starkville doesn”t have a facility to house juveniles who would be detained after curfew. Juveniles would have to be transported to the Lowndes County Juvenile Detention Facility in Columbus.
A curfew in Starkville also would require the Starkville Police Department to hire additional officers or pay existing officers overtime, Nichols said.
In Columbus, where a daytime curfew is in effect during the school year and a nighttime curfew exists year-round, off-duty officers come in to work and are paid overtime to pick up juveniles who violate the curfew. Columbus” daytime curfew is in effect for people under 18 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the school year, during which compulsory school-age children are to be enrolled in school. Additionally, Columbus has a nighttime curfew which makes it unlawful for any minor to remain in or upon any public street, highway, park, sidewalk or other public place between the hours of 10 p.m. on any Sunday through Thursday until 5 a.m. the following day, and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday or Saturday.
Tuscaloosa also has a curfew for people under the age of 18, but it doesn”t apply to students at the University of Alabama or other colleges who may still be under 18. Curfews also are in place in Hattiesburg and Meridian.
In the Southeastern Conference, Auburn (Auburn University), Nashville (Vanderbilt University) and Knoxville (University of Tennessee) also have curfews.
Members of Starkville”s Curfew Task Force include Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk, Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey, City Attorney Chris Latimer, Starkville School District Superintendent Judy Couey, MSU Student Association representative Daniel Fisher and MSU Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Broyles. Starkville Police Department Chief David Lindley is on the Task Force, but was unable to attend Wednesday”s meeting.
Wiseman also plans to invite additional members to join the group, including Oktibbeha County Youth Court Judge Paula Drungole, a representative from the Greater Starkville Development Partnership and community member Dorothy Isaac, who has pushed for the curfew since last fall.
After the meeting Wednesday, Perkins said there is a misconception in the community that he wants to institute a curfew because of the May shooting at Club 124, which left one person dead and three others wounded.
“That is not correct,” Perkins said. “The thought of the citywide curfew has surfaced some time prior to that alleged crime. I just think that situation some weeks ago prompted movement on this issue.”
In the Club 124 shooting, the alleged gunman, Dennis Thompson, is 18, and the victim was 25-year-old Curtis Randle. However, the three people who were wounded in the shooting were under 18.
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