CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Starting this Sunday night at 10 PM, anyone under the age of 18 is not allowed on the streets of Charlotte unsupervised. It’s a part of what CMPD calls the Youth Protection Ordinance. There are exceptions for teens who are working or emergencies.
CMPD Chief Estella Patterson talked with WCCB about Charlotte’s new teen curfew. She says the department plans to spend time educating residents before fully enforcing the curfew. She says, “This is not a pipeline to prison kind of thing for our young people. Enforcement will be, if we see where there’s repeated incidents of young people being out, violating curfew, or when they’re violating curfew, they’re engaging in criminal behavior, then we’ll take enforcement action.”
Chief Patterson says the department will track data on police interactions with teens for curfew violations. The ordinance also gives the department the power to charge parents with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for repeat curfew breakers.
