Frisco City Council members repealed a 2007 ordinance mandating a 12:01-6 a.m. curfew for juveniles aged 10-17 years old during their Aug. 15 meeting.
The request to repeal the ordinance did not come from the city; the 88th Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1819 in June prohibiting cities from enforcing their own juvenile curfews starting Sept. 1.
“It's been an effective tool in our tool kit ... to help juveniles sometimes when they're in need of help,” Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said. “It's a disappointment .. that we’re being mandated from the state level on how we keep our citizens safe.”
Some context
Frisco is one of many cities across Texas repealing their curfew ordinances ahead of HB 1819’s deadline.
“[Repealing the ordinance would] take it off the books so there's no confusion,” Frisco Police Chief David Shilson said Aug. 15. “So, it's not still out there for people to look at and wonder if this is enforceable.”
Repealing the curfew does not mean there will be a sudden surge in juvenile crime, he said.
“Beyond the curfew violation, the goal was to get these juveniles off the streets after hours and get them back home to prevent them from being victims of crime that take place in the late-night hours,” Shilson said.
Keep in mind
The curfew was enforced with 518 citations written over the past 13 years. There were also 1,224 incident reports involving juveniles during the same hours over the same time period.
The total number of incident reports is all-encompassing, including if the juvenile was the offender, victim, witness, suspect or had some other involvement in the incident, Police Sergeant Stephen Byrom said in an email.Police officers still have other methods to monitor situations involving juveniles—such as soliciting or trespassing—without the curfew, Shilson said.
“While we hate to lose this ordinance as a tool, it’s appropriate to repeal our ordinance based on HB 1819, which was passed this past legislative session,” Shilson said in an emailed statement. “We will continue to utilize other statutes for enforcement and as a means to keep our young people safe.”
