By David Blake | WWL | June 3, 2019
Juvenile crime has been talked about for months and it frequently makes headlines in New Orleans. Tonight, the new juvenile curfew takes effect and there are both skeptics and others optimistic it will work.
Rafael Goyeneche, Director of the Metro Crime Commission, is hopeful this kind of pro- active policing will pay off.
”The curfew enforcement is going to be while police are on patrol and they see an individual or a group of kids that they want to verify their age and make sure they are not violating it,” said Goyeneche.
Off the streets by 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Goyeneche says he expects police to track them down.
”If the police know that juvenile offenders are at the root of some of the crime problems, they are going to move in rather than waiting for someone to dial 911,” Goyeneche said.
He adds that this should create a tool that will be a disincentive for kids to risk being out and to risk getting in trouble with the law.
Police chief Shaun Ferguson says the summer curfew will be nine p.m. on week nights and 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
In the French Quarter, the curfew starts at eight p.m., seven days a week, year-round.