Parents could face fines as part of a Baltimore City police crackdown on the parents of juveniles out past the city-mandated curfew.
Parents will receive a free pass for the first time their children break curfew, said city police spokesman Matt Jablow, because many parents don?t know the curfew exists. But parents will likely face fines up to $300 per offense after that, he said.
“We?re not saying we?re going to cite everyone the second time,” he said. “But we?re going to look at them very closely.”
The curfew requires children 16 and younger to be inside between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and from midnight to 6 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Juveniles picked up for violating curfew have been taken to the Baltimore Truancy Assessment Center, where a nighttime truancy program was restarted seven weeks ago.
Jablow said 1,000 juveniles have been picked up for breaking curfew so far this year, 25 of whom were repeat offenders.
“It?s not just for the kids? protection from being victims of violence as much as it from becoming perpetrators of violence themselves,” Jablow said.
Baltimore City police began issuing citations to the parents of repeat offenders Thursday night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
