The DC Council is set to vote on a three-month juvenile curfew Tuesday afternoon. An emergency curfew is currently in place through Wednesday.
WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Incidents like the one in Navy Yard on Friday night that resulted in five arrests are what DC leaders say is pushing them to reinstate an enhanced curfew for kids across the District.
The previous citywide curfew ended in early October. Tuesday, the DC Council could vote to bring it back for another three months.
“What I think was good about the curfew that we had over the summer was that it reduced these incidents, I think it eliminated them, and there were no arrests,” said DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson on Monday. “This is not about locking up juveniles. This is about deterring the behavior to congregate in large numbers and then vandalize.”
Currently, four special curfew zones are in place after an emergency executive order was put in place Saturday, prohibiting anyone under the age of 18 from being out past 6 p.m.
Some residents are skeptical about how effective another longer-lasting curfew could be.
“It’s not going to make anything better,” said Navy Yard resident Jack Rose. “I don’t think it’s going to change anything. I think crime rates are going to stay where they are. I think it’s more performative for the people in power to show that they can affect what’s going on.”
“I’m just like, ‘wait, what is going on?’ and there was just lots of lights and activity,” said Carol Frye, who said she saw Friday night’s commotion.
Frye says she comes from out of town to visit family in Navy Yard frequently and saw what happened Friday night.
“It’s Halloween, it’s the weekend. Kids are out having fun,” said Frye. “Everybody’s out having fun for Halloween, but I just thought they were targeting the black, young kids that were coming to the area.”
When the emergency curfew in DC began Saturday night into Sunday morning, MPD says they stopped 18 juveniles for violating that curfew, including 16 along U Street Northwest.
“I think it might be good for the city. You know, keep a whole lot of ruckus down. It might help them, keep them out of the ground,” said Joe, a 67-year-old lifelong DC resident. He says he currently lives along the U-Street corridor.
“When I was coming up, we had curfews. It helped,” he said. “Maybe they need a little home training, like I like to put it, because the more you stayed at home, the more you thought about stuff.”
The DC council will vote on whether a three-month-long curfew comes back to the District Tuesday afternoon.