Daytime curfew should be curtailed

North County Times - Editorial | June 1 2005

Our View: The Escondido City Council should reject a proposal by its Police Department to instill a daytime curfew for minors. There is no reason ---- not an increase in crime, not statistics, not concern over young victims of gang violence ---- that justifies turning the mere act of being on the street during the day into criminal behavior. The matter may come before the council later this month.

We understand the thinking: Kids on the streets during weekdays belong in school. If they're not in class, they're statistically more likely to be involved in crime ---- either as perpetrators or victims. And Escondido is grappling with serious crime problems. The city's crime rate rose 18 percent last year; at 45 crimes per 1,000 people, it was the county's fourth-highest in 2004. A spate of gang-related crimes, including the Nov. 16 stabbing death of 16-year-old Rene "Kow" Chavez-Vasquez, have Escondido's cops and community leaders calling for action.

But not this action. Evidence from cities that have tried them shows that daytime curfews fail to ease crime rates and tie up valuable police time.

More broadly, a daytime curfew would move the city toward being a police state. Escondido's police already have the power to pick up truant youths on the streets and take them to school. That's where they belong, not in the juvenile justice system.

While well-meaning, the department's other efforts to combat juvenile crime ---- education programs like "Safety Town" and a Juvenile Awareness Academy teaching kids at the Boys & Girls Club about how police do their jobs, for instance ---- are not likely to stem the problem of youth crime and gang violence by themselves. But neither would a daytime curfew. At least the education programs don't infringe upon the right of every person, young or old, to walk along city streets without being picked up by the police and hauled off to jail.