With a spike in juvenile violence over the past few months, Starkville Police Department determined most crimes committed have been linked to auto burglaries.
The board of aldermen held its first of two public hearings Tuesday to address an ordinance establishing a juvenile curfew and truancy law. Ballard delivered a presentation on the statistics regarding juvenile curfews and their effectiveness.
Many variables contribute to crime, Ballard said, but auto burglaries are often the key component in Starkville. These minors steal firearms out of vehicles and then use those weapons to commit violence, he said.
“This curfew is specifically designed to address auto burglary,” Ballard said. “We’ve tried to do an educational front from 2018 to 2019 to 2020 to 2021, and the education is trying to get individuals to lock their car doors for the prevention of weapons.”
The string of recent violent incidents in Starkville includes a fatal shooting on Easter Sunday, a shooting in McKee Park April 20 and two people killed on Pilcher Street March 3.
Ballard said every weapon recovered in these crimes, and all other violent acts involving juveniles this year, were either possessed illegally or had been reported stolen in an auto burglary. Just this year, SPD has recovered 35 stolen firearms as of May 13.
Many of the aldermen and Mayor Lynn Spruill have expressed support for the curfew with the hope of alleviating juvenile crime in the area. While Ballard said he believes the curfew will reduce the amount of auto burglaries, he is unsure if the curfew will affect the volume of crime altogether.
“I do not know if the curfew will eliminate the amount of violence we are seeing,” Ballard said. “I do believe the curfew will have an impact on stolen weapons that are being used in that violence.”
While most of the crimes that have occurred in Starkville over the past months have been from 5 to 9 p.m., Ballard said peak auto burglary time is midnight to 4 a.m. The proposed curfew hours would be 11 p.m.-6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight-6 a.m. Friday and Saturday for anyone under the age of 18.
If SPD finds a juvenile out past curfew, the individual has a two-hour time frame to get in contact with a parent or guardian. If no response is received, SPD will then contact Oktibbeha County Youth Court Judge Lydia Quarles to decide what course of action to take from there.
“For the history of violation, obviously the juvenile judge has the final say, but it would not be the police department’s recommendation to ‘lock a child up’ for being in a curfew violation,” Ballard said. “That is just a tool to identify.”
Aldermen reactions
Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins expressed support of the curfew and believes it will help reduce auto burglaries.
“The presentation made tonight was very informative, and it certainly is well received by me and obviously by the mayor and the board…,” Perkins said, addressing Ballard. “I’m very confident that you and your staff are going to continue at all times to keep our city safe.”
Ward 5 Alderman Hamp Beatty said he believes a curfew at the proposed times is a necessity, but he knows there are long-term issues the city needs to solve, such as demonstrating to the public the importance of locking vehicles.
“I just think there needs to be some type of public awareness done for people who have firearms who keep them in their vehicles for personal protection,” Beatty said. “I think people should have the right to do that, but there’s responsibility that goes along with having a firearm.”
Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker, who strongly voiced wanting to see the data behind curfews, said he sees that SPD believes the curfews will be effective and is hopeful it will reduce crime as a whole for the city of Starkville.
“I think that if somebody is looking to be out past that time to do something, then a curfew in and of itself isn’t going to prevent that, but I fully support the police and their effort to do that,” Walker said. “I do hope that they use a metric, like the auto burglaries, to see if crime from juveniles decreases in the coming years.”
Brookville Garden
The board voted to demolish three buildings at Brookville Garden Apartments due to “unlivable conditions.”
Starkville Code Enforcement Officer Sarah Perez and Building Official Stein McMullen presented a slideshow of photos demonstrating molded walls, fallen ceilings, inadequate heating systems and other issues within these structures. After recommendations of demolition, the board voted to remove these three buildings from the complex.
Eight of these units within the dilapidated buildings are currently occupied, putting those tenants out of residency. Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn said he is empathetic toward those residents not only because they are losing their apartments but also because they have been enduring the harmful environments within the units.
Walker suggested to the board and mayor reaching out to Starkville Housing Authority to find more appropriate housing for these residents and help make their situation better.
“There is no question that these units need to come down as soon as possible,” Walker said. “We also need to be mindful of the displacement of the people that currently live there. While those living conditions are absolutely deplorable, we need to do what we can to make sure that we don’t put them in an even worse situation.”
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