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1 ORDINANCE NO. 16,219
2
3 AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE IMPOSITION OF
4 A CURFEW FOR MINORS WITHIN THE CITY OF LITTLE
5 ROCK, ARKANSAS, TO BE IMPOSED DURING CERTAIN
6 SPECIFIED SITUATIONS; DECLARING AN
7 EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
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9 WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of the City of Little Rock,
10 Arkansas, has determined that if situations involving minors
11 engaging in criminal and other unacceptable behavior during the
12 late evening and early morning hours increased there would be no
13 mechanism for effectively addressing such activity; and
14 h7HERF.AS, communities throughout Arkansas and the United
15 States have successfully enacted ordinances establishing curfews
16 for minors in an effort to deal with emergency situations; and
17 WHEREAS, many citizens of the City have expressed interest
18 in such a curfew for Little Rock under appropriate circumstances
19 as a means of reducing criminal and other unacceptable behavior
20 of minors during the late evening and early morning hours.
21 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
22 THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS:
23 SECTION 1. Title. This ordinance shall be known as the
24 Emergency Curfew for Minors Ordinance.
25 SECTION 2. Purpose. The purpose of this ordinance is to
26 establish a procedure and to provide the necessary authority to
27 declare and maintain a curfew for minors within the City. In
28 order to assure that no rights guaranteed by the the United
29 States Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution are
30 unnecessarily restricted, the provisions of this ordinance shall
31 not be effective unless and until the occurrence of certain
32 emergency situations specified herein. Nothing in this ordinance
33 is deemed to be a limit upon the authority of emergency
34 personnel to limit access to certain areas of the City, or to
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1 have the Mayor declare a general curfew for all citizens,
2 because of the occurrence of a natural disaster such as a
3 tornado, fire, flood, or other such disaster.
4 SECTION 3. Definitions:
5 (a) °Minor^' means any person under the age of eighteen (18)
6 who has not been emancipated by order of a court of competent
7 jurisdiction.
8 (b) "Parent" means any person having legal custody of a
9 minor:
10 (i) as a natural or adoptive parent
11 (ii) as a legal guardian,
12 (iii) as a person who stands in loco parentis, or
13 (iv) as a person to whom legal custody has been
14 given by order of court.
15 SECTION 4. Curfew For Minors. Upon the declaration by the
16 Mayor of a curfew for minors, or upon the extension of such a
17 curfew by the Board of Directors, it shall be unlawful during
18 the hours of the curfew for any minor to loiter, wander, stroll
19 play or remain upon the public streets, highways, roads, alleys,
20 parks, playgrounds, or other public grounds, public places,
21 public buildings, places of amusements, eating places, vacant
22 lots or any other place unless accompanied by a parent having
23 the lawful authority to be at such places. The hours of the
24 curfew shall be no earlier than 9 p.m. on any day and no later
25 than 6 a.m. of the following day.
26 SECTION 5. Imposition of Curfew. The curfew for minors
27 referred to in Section 4 shall be in effect once so declared by
28 the Mayor, upon recommendation of the Chief of Police. The Chief
29 of Police shall recommend a curfew for minors be declared by the
30 Mayor when:
31 (a) the City has experienced significant and continuing
32 instances of criminal activity by minors that have not otherwise
33 been brought under control by normal police intervention. These
34 instances of criminal activity include, but are not limited to,
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1 incidents such as the repeated discharge of firearms within City
2 limits, multiple instances of vandalism, unrestrained public use
3 of controlled substances and alcohol, gang related violent
4 activities, riot, or other such activities that present a
5 genuine danger to the general health and safety of the citizens
6 of Little Rock.
7 (b) the Chief of Police has received intelligence
8 information from reliable, credible sources that such activities
9 set forth in subsection (a) are about to take place.
10 SECTION 6. Duration of curfew. Any curfew declared by the
11 Mayor shall remain in full force and effect for seventy -two (72)
12 hours from the time of such declaration and public notification
13 of the curfew. In the absence of the Mayor, the Vice -Mayor or
14 another Director designated to act in the asbence of the Mayor,
15 make declare the curfew.
16 SECTION 7. Extension of curfew. Once declared a curfew may
17 be extended for period of two weeks if a majority of the Board
18 of Directors votes that a curfew is still necessary, provided
19 that the extension immediately following the declaration of a
20 seventy -two hour curfew may be continued until the next
21 regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors after the
22 extension would otherwise expire. The decision of whether to
23 extend the curfew lies within the sole discretion of the Board
24 of Directors, but shall not be made until after a public hearing
25 on the issue has been held.
26 SECTION 8. Notice. Notice of the declaration of a curfew
27 shall be given as soon as possible after the curfew is declared
28 or extended. Notice may be accomplished by the law enforcement
29 officer giving actual notice, by publishing a notice in a daily
30 local newspaper, or by issuing appropriate public statements to
31 local radio and television stations for immediate release.
32 Notice shall also be run on City operated public access cable
33 television channels.
34 SECTION 9. Parental Responsibility. If a curfew is extended
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1 beyond the initial seventy -two (72) hour period, the ordinance
2 declaring the extension shall also set forth that parents may be
3 held liable if minors for whom they are responsible violate the
4 curfew. In general, it shall be illegal for a parent of a minor
5 to knowingly permit, or by inefficient control to allow, such
6 minor to violate a curfew declared pursuant to the terms of this
7 ordinance. The term "knowingly" includes knowledge which a
8 parent should reasonably be expected to have concerning the
9 whereabouts of a minor. It is intended to continue to keep
10 neglectful or careless parents up to a reasonable community
11 standard of parental responsibility through an objective test.
12 It shall be no defense that a parent was completely indifferent
13 to the activities or conduct or whereabouts of such minor.
14 SECTION 10. Penalties. Any person, not exclusively subject
15 to the jurisdiction of the state juvenile court, convicted of a
16 violation of this ordinance, or of the provisions of an
17 ordinance extending a curfew as authorized by Section 7 of this
18 ordinance, shall be punished as provided in section 1 -9 of the
19 Little Rock, Ark., Revised Code of ordinances.
20 SECTION 11. Severability. In the event any section,
21 subsection, subdivision, paragraph, subparagraph, item,
22 sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this ordinance is declared
23 or adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional, such declaration
24 or adjudication shall not affect the remaining portions of this
25 ordinance which shall remain in full force and effect as if the
26 portion so declared or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional was
27 not originally a part of this ordinance.
28 SECTION 12. Declaring an emergency. It is hereby found and
29 declared that the need to have a procedure by which to declare a
30 curfew for minors is essential to preserve and protect the
31 public health, safety and welfare, and in the absence of such a
32 procedure an emergency is declared to exist so this ordinance
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1 shall be in full force and effect from and after the date of its
2 adoption.
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CLERK PASSED: May 19, IeA
CITY
AppROVED AS TO FORK:
CITY ATTORNEY
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