Pasco’s juvenile curfew is lifted because it is unenforceable

Pasco’s juvenile curfew is a thing of the past.

City council members voted 4-2 on Monday to get rid of the 22-year-old ordinance that was enacted at the height of gang warfare, graffiti and other juvenile crime.

“I hesitate to do this, when it seems to me like we need to though,” Councilman Tom Larsen said. “People with homes should be able to take care of their children. We shouldn’t have to have the police do it.”

However, Larsen changed his mind at the last second and voted against the repeal, along with Councilman Bob Hoffmann.

The ordinance has prohibited youth under age 18 from being out on public streets and in city parks between midnight and 5 a.m.

The Pasco Municipal Code had made it a civil infraction for any juvenile “to knowingly remain, walk, run, stand, drive or ride about” in a public place or on the premises of an establishment during curfew hours.

The issue first came before the council in July, when Deputy City Manager Stan Strebel and City Attorney Leland Kerr said Pasco no longer enforces the curfew. Case law suggests it could violate the Washington and U.S. constitutions.

Courts have found that curfews are an unreasonable prohibition because they infringe on a “minor’s fundamental freedom of movement and expression,” Kerr has said.

The curfew had been designed to protect juveniles, residents and visitors from the dangers of crime that happens during the late night and early morning hours.

It also had been geared toward promoting and enhancing parental control over juveniles.

An issue with the law is knowing when a teen might be legally excused for being out at night.

A long list of exceptions included running an errand for parents, attending a supervised school or religious activity, and being married or an emancipated minor.

Hoffmann questioned Monday “what other means are available to police” if the curfew is lifted.

Pasco Police Chief Bob Metzger said there are a handful of laws and other options for officers who come upon teens in the middle of the night.

Normally, when police stop somebody, it is because they violated a law, whether traffic or criminal, Metzger said.

But officers also can engage in a “social stop,” in which they approach a person on the street and ask if they want to talk about what they’re doing. If the person wants to leave and the officer doesn’t have any reason to detain them, they will let that person move on, Metzger said.

The chief said his department supports lifting the curfew, since it is no longer enforceable.

“Really, from our standpoint, we need to follow what the law says,” Metzger told the city council. “I’ve been here five years and we haven’t used it since I’ve been here. So it’s really not anything that we’ve had to use to maintain the peacefulness that we have.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2016 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Pasco’s juvenile curfew is lifted because it is unenforceable."