First weekend of Newark’s youth curfew debuts to great success
Area parents mostly support the curfew, with some saying it's been a long time coming.
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The director of Newark's Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery said only a handful of children broke its new youth curfew, which took effect on May 3.
According to Kyleesha Wingfield-Hill, two unaccompanied minors were brought home on Friday. One child was taken home on Saturday. And on Sunday night, the OVPTR team interacted with a group of children who were outside past the curfew. However, they determined that they were with an adult.
Area parents were mostly supporting the curfew, with some saying it's been a long time coming.
Iris Hillmon, a mother of two, said the past weekend was very quiet with very few children out past the curfew.
"Normally you would see a kid outside at 1 a.m., 2 a.m. and wonder where their parents are. But their parents don't know because they'll lie, and we're thinking they're somewhere else," said Hillmon. “But now they're home and it's safe."
Hillmon said the new initiative helps give parents the support they need in order to keep their children safe at home.
RELATED: Curfew enforcement for kids under 17 now in effect in Newark
"As parents, we tell our kids to come in. But now they know they have authority coming from outside that's telling them to come in, too. So, it's just not us. It's the city that's caring about us too," said Hillmon.
Evan Scott, a father of six, agrees with the new policy wholeheartedly. He already enforces a curfew with his one son who is under the age of 18.
"I think it's overdue and something that should have been in place because the kids are very important. Their lives are very important," said Scott. "Once mistakes happen, you can't bring somebody back."
The new initiative also includes educational, recreational and workforce development programming. Dereck Dilard thinks the city needs to continue to establish additional programming like this to help create better opportunities for the children of Newark.
"I mean it's OK to keep people in at night. That's just taking care of the crime part of it," said Dilard. "The people in Newark need education. They should be forced to go to school."
The curfew will begin to be enforced seven days a week on June 21 once school ends.
