Proposed Pflugerville Curfew Law Not Fully Embraced By City Council

PFLUGERVILLE, TX — A recent proposal to implement a curfew for minors in Pflugerville could be a hard sell, despite such measures at other surrounding cities.

Police Chief Jessica Robledo addressed city council members at their last regular meeting on June 13, proposing an ordinance outlining a curfew that would be in effect from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight through 6 a.m. from Friday through Saturday. On school days, the curfew would extend from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The curfew policy would be accompanied with a schedule of fines, including $500 citations for minors driving, standing or walking in public places during the prohibited times. The chief explained the police department has made more than 480 juvenile arrests in the past three years, nearly a quarter of those detentions coming during the curfew period she proposed.

But some council members balked at the idea, including Doug Weiss. During a telephone interview with Patch, the councilman said he asked the chief to provide empirical data showing the nature of the offenses for which minors have been arrested in the referenced three-year period.

But beyond statistics, Weiss said he doesn't see the need for what he suggested was a draconian measure on residents—notwithstanding their juvenile status. He noted the local police force was capable of handling the matter of juveniles out and about at odd hours without the measure.

"If we're going to control certain behaviors, we have to have some hard facts and reasons to do so," he told Patch. "It cant be based on the old saying that 'nothing good happens past midnight.' It's not the government's place to enforce a law an arrest someone based on the simple fact they're moving around."

While the city is not untouched by crime ("I know we've had a number of car break-ins and folks walking down the street checking for unlocked vehicles," Weiss said), attributing the criminality to juveniles was not a foregone conclusion requiring a curfew aimed at the group specifically. He posited a curfew as counter to the ideals of freedom of speech and assembly enshrined in the Constitution.

While other nearby cities, including Round Rock and Cedar Park, have their own curfews, Weiss isn't convinced there's a need for one in Pfugerville: "We've got a really engaged police force. We have officers who know the people they're policing. Our guys tend to know when something's not right, and I'm confident in their judgments."

He pointed to Austin as another example of a curfew initiative under scrutiny. On Thursday, Austin City Council members are scheduled to consider whether to extend their curfew law while concurrently considering a resolution from Councilman Greg Casar showing the law disproportionately targets minorities.

Of all the juvenile curfew violators detained from 2014 to 2016, 76 percent were minorities, according to Austin Police Department records cited by the Austin Monitor. The Austin curfew law prohibits individuals under the age of 17 from being out in public without a parent or guardian between 11 p.m. and 6 am. and between the hours of 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on school days.

>>> Image: Enforcement of the Curfew law, which was enacted by William I of England, public domain