Mayor Ras Baraka and Public Safety Director Fritz G. Fragé said a press conference will be scheduled and announced next week to include plans for the city’s Summer Safety Initiative.
Under the plan, unaccompanied minors, ages 17 and below, who are more than 100 yards from their residence between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. the following day will be given a verbal warning and will be escorted to his or her residence and released to the care of his or her parent or guardian, Baraka and Fragé said.
A second infraction within a six month period will result in the juvenile being transported to the Newark Police Youth Strategies Section to be picked up by a parent or guardian, Baraka and Fragé said.
“This ordinance was enacted in the City of Newark decades ago and has been rolled out annually since its inception,” Baraka said. “We are once again enforcing an ordinance that already exists."
No juvenile will be arrested for a curfew violation, Baraka and Fragé said, though parents or guardians will be referred to the New Jersey Department of Children and Families Office of Child Protection and Permanency as a result of repeated violations.
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