NEW ORLEANS — New curfew hours will go into effect Sunday for the city of New Orleans, limiting the times children and teenagers can be unsupervised on the streets.
The new curfew restrictions are set for Sept. 1 and will run through May 31, 2020. Anybody under 17 is required to be off the street when it begins each night.
For most of the city, the curfew from Sunday through Thursday is from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday, the curfew will be in place from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m.
Any juveniles who live in the French Quarter must follow an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew seven days a week.
The curfew has been in place for years, but has not really been enforced in recent memory. With a recent spike in juvenile crime, however, the NOPD and city leaders began emphasizing the policy at the beginning of summer.
During New Orleans schools' summer vacation, police picked up 101 teenagers for curfew violations, about half of the number they picked up in 2018.
If police officers find children between the ages 10 and 17 out after curfew and do not believe he or she has committed any other crimes, the child will be brought to the Covenant House on N. Rampart Street if they can't reach a parent first.
If officers have reason to believe the child has committed a crime, however, they can be arrested.
If a child is picked up three times in a calendar year, a court summons will be issued and parents or guardians could face fines.
Jim Kelly, Executive Director at Covenant House, has been helping children in New Orleans since the late 1980s.
While Kelly said he feels the shelter is a prevention center, not a curfew center, he also said it will be a place for children out in the wrong situation to come safely, without fear of punishment.
“These are good kids. They are out in the wrong place. They don't know what they are doing, and they got a place to come,” Kelly said.