Sec. 22-102 CURFEW FOR JUVENILES
(a) It is unlawful for any person sixteen (16) or less years of age to be or remain upon the street within the city:
(1) During the period ending at 6:00 a.m. and beginning at 12:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday night and beginning at 11:00 p.m. on all other nights.
(2) During “normal school hours.”
These provisions shall not apply to a juvenile:
(1) When accompanied by a parent of such minor.
(2) When engaging in duties of bona fide employment or traveling directly, without delay or detour from home to the place of employment or from the place of employment to the home.
(3) When upon an emergency errand.
(b) Definitions. The following definitions shall apply to the curfew ordinance:
Juvenile is any person under seventeen (17) years of age.
Normal school hours means between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
Parent is any person having lawful custody of a juvenile as a natural or adoptive parent or as a court appointed legal guardian of the juvenile.
Remain means to stay behind, to tarry and stay unnecessarily upon the streets where the juvenile involved would not be using the streets for ordinary or serious purposes such as me3re passage or going home.
Street is a way or place, of whatever nature, open to the use of the public as a matter of right for the purposes of vehicular travel or in the case of a sidewalk thereof for pedestrian travel. The term “street” includes that legal right-of-way, including but not limited to traffic lanes, the curb, the sidewalks, whether paved or unpaved and any grass plots or other grounds found within the legal right-of-way of the street. The term “street” applies irrespective of what it is called or formally named, whether alley, avenue, court, road or otherwise. The term “street” also applies and shall include shopping centers, parking lots, parks, playgrounds, public buildings, the common area of public housing developments and similar areas that are open to the use of the public.
Time of night referred herein is based upon the prevailing standard of time, whether Central Standard Time or Central Daylight Savings Time, generally observed at the hour by the public in the city, prima facie the time then observed in the Poplar Bluff Police Department.
Years of Age continues from one (1) birthday, such as the sixteenth to (but not including the day of) the next, such as the seventeenth birthday, making it clear that sixteen (16) or less years of age to be treated as equivalent to the phrase “under seventeen (17) years of age. “
(c) Parental responsibility.
(1) It shall be an affirmative obligation of a parent to ensure his or her child’s compliance with this section.
(2) It is a violation of this Code for a parent of a juvenile to permit or allow the juvenile to be or remain upon any city street or outside the home under circumstances not constituting an exception to, or otherwise beyond the scope of, the curfew ordinance.
(3) This section is to hold neglectful of [or] careless parents to a reasonable community standard of parental responsibility through an objective test.
(4) It shall be no defense that a parent was indifferent to the activities or conduct or whereabouts of such juvenile.
(d) Enforcement
(1) If an officer from the police department believes that a juvenile is on the streets in violation of this curfew ordinance, the officer shall notify the juvenile he or she is in violation of the curfew, and shall require the juvenile to provide his or her name, address, and telephone number, and how to contact his or her parent.
(2) In determining the age of the juvenile and in the absence of convincing evidence, a police officer shall use his or her best judgment in determining age.
(3) A police officer may deliver the juvenile to the home of the parent under appropriate circumstances.
(4) The juvenile shall be released to the custody of the parent, or if during school hours, the juvenile may be released to the principal of the school that the student attends.
|