Indianapolis police to begin enforcing curfew. What you need to know
Indianapolis police will begin enforcing the state’s curfew law for minors in response to increasing violence amongst youth in the city. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) is beginning enforcing the state's curfew law for minors due to increasing youth violence in the city. The announcement comes after a weekend of violence, which saw seven minors shot in downtown Indianapolis. The law prohibits children younger than 15 from being in public places after 11 p.m. or before 5 a.m., and prohibits children ages 15-17 from participating in activities such as work, school, a religious event, or an activity involving the exercise of juveniles' freedom of speech or assembly. If a minor is found guilty of violating the curfew, police will attempt to notify the minor's parent or guardian. The curfew will take effect 30 minutes and 15 minutes before curfew.
Опубликовано : месяц назад от Jake Allen, Indianapolis Star в Politics
INDIANAPOLIS — Police will begin enforcing the state’s curfew law for minors in response to increasing violence among youth in the city.
"Our residents deserve better, our children deserve better and a small number of our children need to be better,” said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Police Chief Christopher Bailey on Thursday.
The curfew announcement from the police department comes a few days after the shooting of seven minors in downtown Indianapolis Saturday night. The shooting shined a national spotlight on the city's struggle with youth violence.
More on Saturday's shooting: 'Beef' ends with downtown shooting of 7 Indianapolis kids, draws national headlines
Violence among people 17 and younger is one of the few areas of crime that has increased in Indianapolis, despite the number of homicides and shootings going down for the third year in a row.
“The behavior we saw last weekend will not continue,” Bailey said. “It is our duty as parents, as adults and as law enforcement to keep our children safe, alive, out of jail and out of the cemetery.”
Indiana’s curfew law, which IMPD will begin enforcing, states children younger than 15 may not be in a public place after 11 p.m. or before 5 a.m. on any day.
The law also states children ages 15-17 may not be in a public place:
• None between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Saturday or Sunday
• None before 5 a.m. on Monday - Friday
• None A juvenile who is accompanied by a parent, guardian or custodian or adult
• None A juvenile who is accompanied by an adult specified by a parent, guardian or custodian
• None A juvenile participating in, going to, or returning from work, a school sanctioned activity, a religious event, an emergency involving the protection of a person or property from an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or substantial damage, or an activity involving the exercise of the juveniles engaging in freedom of speech or the right of assembly
• None A juvenile participating in an activity conducted by a nonprofit or governmental entity that provides recreation, education, training or other care under the supervision of an adult
• None A juvenile participating in an activity with the prior written direction of the juvenile’s parent, guardian or custodian
• None A juvenile traveling from outside Indiana to another location outside Indiana.
Officers will issue announcements via public address systems on their patrol cars before curfews take effect if they see a group of kids. The announcements will occur 30 minutes and 15 minutes before curfew, followed by an announcement that the curfew is in effect.
Officers may respond to kids violating the curfew by bringing the minor to a designated safe and secure location. Then officers will attempt to notify the minor's parent or guardian.
“Parents and guardians will be granted a reasonable amount of time to pick up their child,” reads a news release from the police department. “If contact with a parent or guardian cannot be established, the juvenile will be transported to the juvenile detention center.”
In-depth: Stories of rising Indy youth violence 'shock the conscience.' But not everyone has given up
A curfew violation is a status offense, which means it is a non-criminal act.
Leading up to the curfew taking effect, residents will see an increased presence of officers throughout the city, according to the department.
Officers first responded to last weekend’s shooting when they heard gunshots shortly after 11:30 p.m. in the first block of West Maryland Street
Six of the people shot were taken to hospitals. Police soon learned a seventh injured person was admitted to Community Hospital South.
All of the injured, which included two 16-year-old boys, one 16-year-old girl, three 14-year-old girls and one 12-year-old boy, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Two other minors not directly involved in the shooting were arrested on preliminary resisting charges, police said two days later.
Saturday’s shooting marked a third violent weekend in March in Indianapolis. A shooting at a Broad Ripple bar March 16 left one man dead and five others injured. The following weekend, a shooting at an east side bar resulted in another death and five people injured, including an IMPD officer.
Contact Jake Allen at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis violence: Police to enforce curfew after 7 kids shot downtown
Темы: Indiana, Indianapolis