To pass or not to pass?
As parents we impose a lot of restrictions on our children.
You can only watch TV after finishing all your homework. You can only go to the concert if you get an A in math. You can’t get up from the table until you finish all your vegetables.
Now, following Ike Leggitt’s recent proposal, there may be another restriction we will have to enforce: Stay off the streets from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weekdays and from midnight to 5 a.m. on weekends, or face detainment.
Leggitt proposed the bill in early July in order to curb gang activity and crimes committed by minors. If passed the Montgomery County curfew will mirror similar curfews in the surrounding areas — P.G. County and Washington D.C.
But there’s one thing wrong with Ike’s proposal: Why propose a bill to stop youth crime when the the stats are already decreasing?
On June 10, Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger announced that “total crime for 2010 decreased 7.5 percent from 2009.” Though that includes adult statistics as well the Department of Juvenile Services has seen a steady decrease in the number of new intake cases from 2006, including a difference of 11,637 between Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010.
It seems like Montgomery County is already doing a good job of decreasing crimes committed by juveniles, but the fact is teens are always going to get in trouble, not matter what we, as parents, do. And by imposing a curfew on Mont. Co. teens the County is only challenging rebellious minors to break the rules.
So, MoCo, let’s leave the curfews to the parents.
Read Expediated Bill 25-11 here.
To speak out against the bill attending the public hearing on Tuesday, June 26 at 1:30 p.m. at the County Council building (100 Maryland Avenue Rockville, MD). We’ll be there.
— Patrick J. Hoover, Esq.
