RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Raleigh city leaders are moving forward with plans for a citywide teen curfew following a weekend of violence that officials said involved thousands of young people in multiple parts of the city.
During a City Council discussion Tuesday, Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce, Mayor Janet Cowell and other city leaders expressed support for new measures aimed at preventing similar incidents from happening again.
“We need to start looking at what a curfew looks like here in the Capital City,” Boyce said.
Cowell said city attorneys have been directed to begin drafting a proposed curfew ordinance.
“We support a curfew. We have directed the city attorney to draft a curfew language likely citywide and addressing 17 year olds and under,” Cowell said.
The discussion comes after what police described as teen takeovers that led to disturbances in multiple locations. City leaders said more than 8,000 teens gathered in Raleigh over the weekend.
Officials said fights broke out in Brier Creek before a shooting. Then police say the teens moved to Glenwood South, where four additional shootings occurred.
Chief Boyce told council members that the department knew about a planned gathering in Moore Square and deployed resources there, but did not receive information about an event in Brier Creek beforehand.
“We knew about the teen takeover in Moore Square. We quickly addressed that with providing resources there. We did not have information about a teen takeover in Brier Creek,” Boyce said.
In addition to a curfew for minors ages 17 and younger, city leaders discussed other possible strategies, including backpack restrictions for minors and expanded youth engagement programs designed to keep young people involved in positive activities.
“The entire council is really backing the chief and all of the police department in addressing these issues,” Cowell said.
Boyce also shared new details about the department’s response during the weekend events, including an encounter he said occurred while officers were addressing the unrest.
“I’m a cop, I stepped in and engaged with (a) young man. He quickly realized it was the police, and took off running. I caught him, guess what he had on him? He had a gun. He looked up at me and said, ‘Officer, don’t shoot,'” Boyce said.
Chief Boyce’s full account of teen takeovers
Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce lays out for the City Council a timeline of events that unfolded at Brier Creek and Glenwood South, resulting in as many as 8,000 teenagers being involved in a ‘teen takeover.’
While supporting a curfew, Boyce emphasized that law enforcement alone cannot solve the problem.
“Safety is a shared responsibility,” Boyce said. “The schools, faith organizations, nonprofits, but the most important are the parents. The jurisdictions that see the most success are where parents are parents.”
Questions remain about the ages of those involved, where attendees came from and the identities of those arrested. City officials said additional information, including a breakdown of arrests, will be released soon.
A draft of the proposed curfew is expected to be presented Aug. 18. Cowell said a curfew could be implemented as early as August.
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Jon Dowding
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