Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is proposing a curfew for all youth under 18.
The bill will be introduced during the County Council’s session Tuesday, but the council will not vote on the bill until the fall.
The bill prohibits youth from being in any public place from midnight to 5 a.m. on weekends and from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday nights.
“The latest figures show crime down in the county,” said Patrick Lacefield, Leggett’s spokesman. “Notwithstanding that, the county executive felt he needed to give the police more tools to deal with young people.”
The proposed law is an effort to curb specifically gang violence, he explained. It penalizes parents who allow their children to violate the law. However, the law does allow a number of exceptions, allowing minors to be out past curfew if they are with a parent, at work, attending a school-related function or dealing with an emergency, among other things.
Both the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County have similar curfews.
However, the law would present a “major change” for Montgomery County, said Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg, who is the head of the council’s public safety committee.
Andrews also said that as written, the legislation does not apply to the cities of Rockville and Gaithersburg.
The main consideration, he said, is whether there is an alternative way to address juvenile crime.
“I’m interested to hear the arguments that the executive will make,” Andrews said.
A public hearing has not been scheduled, though Andrews said he thinks it will be July 26.
