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NEWPORT — The Newport City Council is considering a curfew after juveniles were accused of vandalizing at least three buildings and nine cars overnight earlier this month.
Mayor Keith Campbell said he has observed the security cameras of his business, Sherman-Campbell Funeral and Cremation Services, for the last three Saturdays, including the one before the July 7 vandalism. Each night, his cameras captured juveniles out as late as 2 to 4 a.m.
It was Wade Nelson, Newport Police Department chief, who had suggested the city implement a curfew.
“It’s frustrating when you see them because we saw the result of kids just running around having nothing to do or not being reined in,” Campbell said at the meeting. “And we’ve got to do something about it.”
The city’s attorney will draft a curfew proposal in the next month. Campbell acknowledged that the state has laws surrounding curfews; Newport used to have a curfew, but it was lifted after complaints about unconstitutionality.
About 21 other cities in Washington have curfews, Nelson said at the meeting, though many were implemented in the ‘90s. Of those, 16 hold only parents and guardians responsible for violations. Nelson is of the opinion that Newport should do the same.
“The juveniles do a crime, they will be held responsible for the crime they do,” Nelson said at the meeting. “But being out after hours, I think it goes to the parents.”
Two 15-year-old juveniles were arrested and charged with first-degree malicious mischief, a felony, following the July 7 vandalism.
A curfew could provide additional repercussions for juveniles who commit such acts, council member Mark Zorica said at the meeting.
Fines for violating curfews range from $50 to $500 depending on the city and level of transgression, Nelson said. Exceptions to the curfew may include special events, school functions, errands or parent- or guardian-supervised juvenile activities.
“Kids usually, they see what others do and they kind of mimic stuff, and [if] they see there’s hardly any repercussions, you’re going to get a lot more of that,” Zorica said. “And I think that public safety piece for the town, the citizens, the businesses, it should be utmost important.”
Without a law or ordinance like a curfew, Nelson said NPD cannot identify, stop or detain juveniles unless they are caught committing a crime. The state does not have any statutes outlawing juvenile activity at certain times, but curfews are legal as long as they are not criminal.
A curfew would be “really helpful” to NPD, Nelson said, as more juveniles have been out late this year than last year. He and his wife have themselves observed 14-year-olds out at 10:30 and 11 p.m.
“[A curfew] gives us the ability to contact these kids,” Nelson said. “And they would be required to identify themselves because we have a reasonable, lawful reason to stop them at those hours.”
Besides a curfew, Nelson suggested legislation surrounding nuisance properties. He is working with city administrator Abby Gribi to label certain properties that receive a certain type and number of calls as nuisance properties. He pointed to four residences that NPD has received multiple drug-related, assault and noise complaints calls about, yet cannot label as nuisance properties without a statute.
“That’d be something good to change so that gives us the teeth to force, whether they’re renting or owning, to change their behaviors so our community doesn’t suffer,” Nelson said.
Toward the end of his comments as NPD chief, Nelson said that while calls to NPD decreased to 98 in April, self-initiated contacts increased to 116 in one month from a former monthly average of 15. These include traffic and pedestrian stops with an emphasis on the former, which NPD has increased to incentivize following speed limits and stopping for stop signs and pedestrians. In the last three weeks, NPD has apprehended three DUIs.
“I’m getting lots of complaints, but they’re just doing their job,” Nelson said. “And people are starting to slow down and notice that they’re stopping people in the town.”
During his comments, Public Works Department director Dave North said at the meeting that PWD is having a “big problem” with alleged vandalism at parks.
PWD has been forced to replace about 30 sprinkler heads after they were kicked off at night. One sprinkler was dug up just this weekend at the soonto- be-renamed Little People’s Park. Bathrooms are also being “destroyed,” North said, including one at the same park where drug paraphernalia was found amid the destruction.
This has caused PWD to lock the bathrooms before leaving work, and North said they may also install cameras at the parks.
“Hopefully we can avoid that a little bit here coming up with maybe a curfew or something,” North said. “Because it’s bad.”
