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Crime & Justiceby Fern Shen12:16 pmJun 3, 20140

Mayor enlists NAACP to support toughened youth curfew

After the Council approves the curfew bill, Rawlings-Blake introduces the local president of the NAACP, who says the civil rights group will help implement the plan

Above: The NAACP’s Tessa Hill-Aston said the group will help Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake implement the stricter curfew. (Fern Shen)

Even though she easily got the tightened youth curfew she wanted from the City Council last night – by a 13-2 vote amid boos and protest signs from the gallery – Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake seemed concerned that she had not yet won the public relations war.

Following days of vocal opposition and an alternative proposal by the American Civil Liberties Union, Advocates for Children and Youth, the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and other organizations, the mayor brought out her own community supporter – the NAACP.

“I’m very concerned about children in the street because I get called to all scenes of all accidents, tragedies. . . when the child got shot in Cherry Hill last year we were there within 15 to 20 minutes,” said Tessa Hill-Aston, president of the Baltimore City NAACP. “The curfew is an attempt to answer some of the problems we have.”

Summoned via text by the mayor’s press office, the media gathered after last night’s vote to hear remarks by Rawlings-Blake, curfew sponsor Councilman Brandon M. Scott, and by Hill-Aston, who was accompanied by her grandson and a group of other people.

Addressing critics who said the city should provide more services to young people rather than put them under “house arrest,” the mayor said, “It’s not an either or situation.”

There was also a message for those who say curfews will result in more children in the criminal justice system. “Let me be clear: This is not a criminal enforcement act by the police,” Rawlings-Blake said. “Children will not be entered into the criminal justice system for merely violating curfew.”

As the council approved the bill, protesters in the gallery unfurled a banner.

As the Council approved the bill, protesters in the gallery unfurled a “No Youth Curfew” banner. (Fern Shen)

A group of about 25 protesters gathered outside of City Hall before the Council meeting to call it precisely that.

“They have money for condominiums, they’ve got money for special telephones in City Hall, they’ve got money for Harbor Point, but when it comes to young people, all they have is more jails,” said Lee Patterson, of the Worker’s World Party.

“This is racist oppression of black youth and others of color. There is no excuse for this stop-and-frisk.”

Officer Friendly

Hill-Aston, in her remarks before the cameras, acknowledged that there had been criticism of the bill.

“The NAACP is going to work with the mayor and with City Hall to try and iron out and work with the cracks that people think are there and try to build resources,” she said, adding that she was working on “writing grants” in order to create a program and offer services.

Tessa-Hill – a city employee who works at the health department, last year earning $62,500 – was asked to elaborate on her support for the stricter curfew, which requires children to be off the street as early as 9 p.m. and calls on police take violators to “Youth Connection Centers.”

“I’m not endorsing it, but I want to flush out the cracks, meet with police officers, make sure they do it right, with the right attitude, not just fish around for people carrying drugs,” Hill-Aston said.

Protesters urged the City Council to come up with other ways to protect vulnerable youth and the community. (Photo by Fern Shen)

Protesters urged the City Council to come up with other ways to protect vulnerable youth and the community. (Fern Shen)

“I want to make sure they are conscientious and do the right thing. When they touch a child it’s got to be like it’s their own child,” she said.

“They’ve got to be like ‘Officer Friendly.’ The minute I hear they’re not, I will speak up.”

Also present to show support for the bill was Edna M. Manns, president of the Fayette Street Outreach Organization.

“I support it,” Manns said. “I feel strongly for it because it will keep kids safe.”

Nine Centers Planned

Council Bill 13-0261 was approved last night with no discussion. Councilmen Warren Branch and Carl Stokes were the only members to vote “no.”

The bill included an amendment from the administration delaying its implementation to early August to address the fact that, at this point, there is no Youth Connection Centers.

Angela Johnese, director of the Mayor’s Office on Criminal Justice, said she has been talking to Recreation and Parks and City Schools to identify a year-round site that could replace a current curfew center, which operates only in the summer.

Among the other details offered by the mayor’s staff: The new center would be open from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. and eventual expand to 24/7, and that a total of nine centers are eventually planned, “one in each police district.”

Young protesters outside City Hall after the Baltimore City Council approved the curfew expansion bill. (Photo by Fern Shen)

Young protesters outside City Hall after the Council approved the curfew expansion bill. (Fern Shen)

Asked who will staff the center, Johnese said her office  would be the primary staffers, but that “agencies and a team of volunteers” would also be present to “provide wrap-around services,” such as substance abuse counseling or educational help. She said staffing would vary based on days vs. weekends and the number of children coming through.

Staff would first try to contact the parents, Johnese said, noting that children under 13 would be referred to Child Protective Services.

Johnese noted that the current curfew center has had representatives on site from the Department of Juvenile and someone from the Maryland State Police “so that they can determine if that young person is involved in the Department of Juvenile Services.”

Will Violators be Arrested?

Asked how the curfew will be enforced “if it’s not an enforcement action,” Johnese said that if police “are coming in contact with a young person who is in violation of the curfew, they have the opportunity to transport that young person to the center.”

Pressed about enforcement, she said the children “are not arrested, they are not handcuffed, they are brought to the center in what used to be called the PAL van. . . It’s contact with law enforcement, but it’s not the same as a juvenile arrest.”

What if the child refuses to go to the curfew center, a reporter asked.

“That’s not an option,” Rawlings-Blake answered.

Outside City Hall after the news conference, there were more protesters, who said that the bill would be unevenly enforced, with poor and minority children targeted while others in wealthier neighborhoods get a pass.

“If the curfew is passed, Mayor Rawlings-Blake and all children are basically shut in their homes, will your daughter be expected to obey this law since she is a youngster?” read a sign help up by a little girl.

A Hot Summer Night

Also present outside was longtime civil rights activist Dr. Helena Hicks, whose statement expressing concern about the curfew is on the ACLU website.

Speaking to the media as well was Councilman Stokes, whose opposition to the bill on a radio program prompted a combative response from the mayor.

“Yes, we have problems with youth. But this conversation shouldn’t have started with a curfew,” he said, arguing that the mayor’s efforts would have been better spent on youth programs, services, better school, jobs programs .

Stokes said the emphasizing the curfew ignores a long tradition of city people sitting out on stoops, in part to escape a hot rowhouse.

“You’re going to end up at the center also with the good child who just didn’t have anything to do inside on a hot summer night,” Stokes said. “We all know where this is going to be targeted and implemented – certain neighborhoods.”

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