Howard County Teens Debate Proposed Curfew Law (VIDEO)

Montgomery  recently proposed a curfew ordinance that would bar unsupervised minors from public areas after 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends.

The proposal has since sparked an intense discourse on the topic across the state.

In fact, according to The Sentinal, youth planned to protest against the proposal Friday night in downtown Silver Spring. 

Julia, 14, of Ellicott City, who declined to give her last name, argued that setting a curfew shouldn’t be up to a county government to decide. “I think it should be a personal choice for teenagers and their parents to discuss,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s fair honestly, because teenagers should be able to do what they want,” said Aspen Humburg, 13, of Laurel.

But others saw the value in regulation. “I don’t feel safe going out at night, especially after midnight,” said Rosalie Tedeschi, 19, of Howard County.

“I’m kind of in favor of it; I’m kind of not," said 13-year-old Asia Allen of Prince George’s County. "A lot of things happen at night that are not safe. But it depends on the situation.”

Leggett told  that the proposed curfew is meant to deal with long-standing challenges with area crime and unemployment.

The measure was filed on the heels of a fight in downtown Silver Spring that involved more than 80 people, many of them gang members.

According to The Washington Post, it took more than 40 officers to subdue the fight, which resulted in a stabbing In the article, police argued that if a curfew had been in place, the fight would not have gotten so out of control.

“How can you argue against [the proposal]?" said Debra Munk, principal of Montgomery County’s Rockville High School. “It’s hard to say it’s a bad thing for teenagers to be home late at night...My father used to say, ‘Nothing good happens after midnight.’”

However, like many adults and teenagers who have publicly spoken on the topic, Munk expressed some concerns on the proposed law, especially about its enforcement. “The devil is in the details,” Munk said. “The county police are already stretched.” Questions have been raised not only about ordinance enforcement, but also about the definition of “public areas.” 

In the meantime, Montgomery County is not the only county in the state to have considered such legislation.

Howard and Baltimore counties do not have such laws on the books, nor are those officials considering such curfews. Prince George’s County passed a curfew ordinance in 1995, while enforcement began in the summer of 1996. 

According to Cpl. Henry Tippett, spokesperson for the Prince George’s County Police Department, youth violating the law are not arrested but are taken into custody until a parent can pick them up.

In addition, parents of teens who violate the curfew law are fined $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second offense and $250 for subsequent offenses. Owners of public establishments are fined up to $500 for (knowingly) allowing a juvenile to be in their establishment or on the premises during curfew hours.

Tippett could not say statistically how effective the curfew law has been. “Juvenile curfew violations are not a category of crime that the department keeps statistics on. In most instances, if the curfew violation is not associated with a crime, the juvenile is only issued a warning and returned to his or her home or guardian,” he said.

He added that since Montgomery County is a bordering jurisdiction, the proposed ordinance “just kind of helps the flow of one county to the next.”

But the proposed law is drawing its share of ire. Teenagers have set up a Facebook page against the ordinance. At the moment, the page has nearly 6,500 followers. 

Teenagers interviewed by Patch expressed anger over a lost sense of freedom. “For people who do want to go out, it’s not fair," said Laura Smith of Ellicott City.

Yet the law does have its young supporters. Christine Ridgley, 19, of Howard County said she would favor such a law, for safety reasons. “A lot of these kids go out partying,” Ridgley said. “The crime rates are really hitting here. It’s getting out of control.”

Either way opinion swings, Montgomery County residents will have some time to wait before a decision on the matter; according to Montgomery County spokesperson Lucille Baur, a vote on the ordinance wouldn’t happen until September or October.

“The council will continue to work with the county executive, the police department and citizen input,” Baur said, "...to address the county executive’s and the police department’s concerns about safety of the community at large.” A work session has been scheduled for Sept. 15.