HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8324 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8324
May 8, 2001
9 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
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Subject: Renewal of Teen Curfew Ordinance
At the Pre-Council Meeting held on April 10, material was presented concerning
the curfew ordinance both in an Informal Report and in a briefing to Council. As
you will recall, on May 19, 2001, this ordinance is set to expire. The council must
amend, modify or abolish the curfew ordinance by this date or it will automatically
expire. Additionally, public hearings were held on April 10 and April 17, 2001 with
no public comments made. On council's direction, action on the item was
delayed until May 15 in order to allow public comment from teens at an upcoming
town hall meeting.
Several Council Members expressed concern about the ethnic breakdown of
those receiving citations and asked that more effort be directed toward public
education and awareness. We wanted you to be apprised of the progress in this
matter thus far, although some tasks have not been completed.
We have undertaken a three-part program to educate parents and teens about
the Curfew Ordinance. We began with emphasis in the Hispanic Community.
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The first part of the education program is a pamphlet directed at the teens that
are subject to the ordinance. The parriphlet was written in English and Spanish.
We met with officials from the Fort Worth Independent School District and
received tentative permission, pending Dr. Tocco's approval, to distribute these
pamphlets to each student in every middle and high school in the district. We
also began an effort to solicit feedback from teens. On April 17, Chief Ralph
Mendoza was a member of a panel at the Students Speak Out! Rally sponsored
by the YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth. During the community panel portion of
the event, feedback from students indicated they were against the idea of a
curfew that limited -their activities in any way. Of the half dozen students who
commented at the meeting, the majority did not like the curfew from a
constitutional perspective because they felt it infringed upon their liberty. Many
had trouble understanding the exceptions to the ordinance, which allowed some
of the activity that they thought was restricted like working late hours or running
an errand for their parents. Teen feedback will also be solicited at the Teen
Town Hall Meeting scheduled for May 12#h in the Council Chambers. Members
of staff will be present to record the teens' dialogue concerning this ordinance.
The second part of the program is to educate parents of teens. We have
scheduled speaking engagements at a continuing series of meetings at different
schools in the FWISD. The following meetings have been set:
0
Carter-Riverside High School PTA.—April 30 - 7:00 p.m.
* JP Elder Middle School — May 3 — 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS NO. 8324
May 8, 2001
'PEZZ0, To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
Page 2 of 3
TrxA Subject: Renewal of Teen Curfew Ordinance
1873
Contacts have been mad-e for Trimble Tech High School and North Side High
School
The curfew ordinance pamphlet will be made available at the following meetings:
• Fort Worth ISD Truancy Meeting — held each Monday night
• Fort Worth Community Forums
• PTA and School Booster Club Meetings
The third part of the program is exposure through the media. The Police
Department prepared and distributed a news release to all local news agencies
on April 23rd. Special emphasis was given to the Spanish-speaking media
outlets. Interviews were given to La Vida, El Informador Hispano, La Raza, and
KUVN — 21 The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has also printed an article
concerning curfews. Representatives from the Fort Worth ISD suggested we
place the curfew ordinance information on their Educational Channel in English
and Spanish and we are pursuing that plan. We have explored avenues to make
presentations on Spanish-speaking radio stations. KFJZ has agreed to host a
program focused on this matter on Wednesday, May 2, 2001 at 9:00 am.
This education program will not be limited to a one-time period but rather will be
conducted several times throughout the year to fully acquaint teens and parents
on what the law is and how it may affect them.
During the pre-council meeting of April 10, Councilmember Davis requested
information concerning the effectiveness of the curfew ordinance and a summary
of the crime statistics before and after implementation. In that regard, we
reviewed the data to determine the effectiveness of this ordinance. We found that
Part I offenses overall have been reduced since the implementation of the curfew
ordinance. We have included with this Informal Report slides showing juvenile
arrest rates for all hours both prior and subsequent to the curfew ordinance. This
information is presented in an "all hours format" because juvenile arrest statistics
for specific curfew hours were not recorded until after the implementation of
curfew ordinance.
A word of explanation is necessary to accurately interpret the information
provided to the Council. Part I crime statistics are a measurement of all reported
crime. The count is made without regard to the suspect's characteristics or
whether any suspect information is available. It is simply a count of reported
offenses. Statistical counting of juvenile crime in this manner is not reliable. In
many offenses, the suspect is unknown. An undercount or overcount would
result if an attempt was made to determine juvenile crime rates in this manner.
Therefore, the only reliable method of statistically counting juvenile crime is by
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CM COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8324
May 8, 2001
5 on To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
A Page 3 of 3
Subject: Renewal of Teen Curfew Ordinance
1873
arrest. All of the statistical' data provided on the subject is presented in this
manner.
After careful review of the statistical data, it is our conclusion that the curfew
ordinance is well written and meets the needs of the police department and the
community. We have found this ordinance to be a useful tool for the protection of
the citizens of Fort Worth. It assists parents of troubled teens by providing them
with needed support. The ordinance has addressed the areas it was originally
intended to address:
• It is an effective strategy to impact victimization
• It is used to investigate criminal activity of juvenile offenders
• It has shown to be cost effective
We recommend that the ordinance be extended in its present form.
00*
ay J
ack
s
C it y Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS
This informational packet contains the statistic on Part I juvenile arrests from calendar year 1990
to 2000. They are reported in a per capita format in order to provide a manner of comparison
that is meaningful. Each of the following graphs show Part I arrest per 100,000 residents based
on an average population growth of 6.45% each year. Each graph has been divided to show the
approximate point in which the curfew was passed.
Each of the following categories is graphed: Page
• Total Juvenile Arrest for all Part I Offenses occurring all hours I
• Juvenile arrests for Murder occurrinc, all hours 2
• Juvenile arrests for Sexual Assaults occurring all hours 3
• Juvenile arrests for Robberies occurring all hours 4
• Juvenile arrests for Aggravated Assaults occurring all hours 5
• Juvenile arrests for Burglaries occurring all hours 6
• Juvenile arrests for Auto Thefts occurring all hours 7
• Juvenile arrests for Thefts excluding auto theft occurring all hours 8
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