Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2066 ResolutionRESOLUTION NO. 0 G G A RESOLUTION declaring the support of the Pasco City Council for changes in the state Juvenile Justice Act and other state statutes permitting local juvenile curfew ordinances and requiring parental responsibility for the supervision and exercise of control of juveniles by their parents during designated curfew hours; and for greater accountability of juveniles for their unlawful conduct. WHEREAS, the City of Pasco is experiencing a serious juvenile crime problem that is continuing to escalate in degree of physical violence and the use of deadly weapons, and WHEREAS, the City of Pasco has responded to this problem by assignment of addition police officers to a special "Gang Patrol", diluting the ability of the police department to respond to public calls for assistance in other areas of criminal activity, m particular, non-violent cnmes against property, and WHEREAS, the City of Pasco is providing both staff and fiscal support to a special Task Force For a Safe Commumty which is attempting to find solutions to the problem of youth violence in the community from an interdisciplinary approach and the involvement of the entire community, and WHEREAS, although the Pasco Police Department has utilized RCW 13 32A 050 extensively during late night and early morning hours to remove juveniles from circumstances appearing endangerous to their physical and/or mental health and safety, only to take them to their home to find m many cases either no parent or adult guardian present, a non-caring attitude regarding their child's whereabouts and activities, or parents that state that they need help in controlling the behavior of their children, and WHEREAS, despite the many efforts of the City of Pasco and the community to abate the growing problem of youth violence, juvenile crime continues to escalate and the percentage of criminal arrests of juveniles versus the number of police field contacts of juveniles continues to be higher after 11 00 pm and before 5 00 a m than any other equal time penods of the day, and WHEREAS, the Pasco City Council considered the adoption of both a juvenile curfew and a parental responsibility ordinance to establish juvenile curfew hours and also to sanction the parents of the juvenile violators of the curfew who fail to exercise responsible parental supervision and control of their children (see attachment hereto), but was prohibited from adoptmg such an ordinance by state laws which define juvenile offenses as being those offenses also defined as offenses for adults and by a lack of provisions in state law giving local government the police power authonty to enact ordinances m the area of parental responsibility, and o APP 0 AS • FO, Oka__ ATTEST ATHERINE D SEA Deputy City Clerk GREC • RUBS LLO City Atto ney WHEREAS, the Pasco City Council believes that the Washington State legislature must take corrective action through legislation to authonze local juvenile curfew ordinances and parental responsibility laws and further to provide for stiffer and increased penalties for the violations of law by juveniles who are increasingly undetered from repeating their cnmmal conduct, Now, Therefore, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PASCO, WASHINGTON, DOES RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS: §1. The Washington State legislature should revise the Juvenile Justice Act to specifically permit local juvenile curfew ordinances and provide for more timely and severe penalties for the violation of criminal laws by juveniles, and §2. the Washington State legislature should adopt legislation making it a violation of law for parents not to exercise responsible parental supervision and control over their children when it is within their ability to provide such supervision and control and provide local authonties with the ability to legislate and prosecute violations of laws concerning parental responsibility PASSED by the City Council of the City of Pasco, at its regular meeting on March 1, 1993 ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE regulatmg the presence and conduct of minors on streets and other public places within the City of Pasco, establishing a curfew; defining duties of parents and others in care of minors, providing for penalties for violation thereof, and adding a new Chapter 9 90 to the Pasco Municipal Code Whereas, the City of Pasco is expenencmg a serious juvenile cnme problem that is continuing to escalate in physical violence and the use of deadly weapons, and Whereas, the City of Pasco has responded to this problem by the assignment of additional police officers to a special "gang patrol", diluting the ability of the Police Department to respond to public calls for assistance in other areas of cnmmal activity, in particular, non violent cnme against property, and Whereas, the City of Pasco is providing both staff and fiscal support to a special Task Force for a Safe Community which is attempting to find solutions to the problem of youth violence in the community from an interdisciplinary approach and the involvement of the entire community, and Whereas, the Pasco Police Department has utilized RCW 13 32A 050 extensively during late night and early morning hours to remove juveniles from circumstances endangerous to their physical and mental health and safety, only to take them to their home to find in many cases either no parent or adult guardian present, a non-caring attitude regarding their child's whereabouts and activities, or parents who state they need help controlling the behavior of their children, and Whereas, despite the many efforts of the City of Pasco and the community to abate the growing problem of youth violence, juvenile cnme continues to escalate and the percentage of criminal arrests of juveniles versus the number of police field contacts of juveniles continues to be higher after 11 00 p m and before 5 00 a m than other equal time periods of the day, Whereas, juvenile crime is not isolated to any particular area of the City, nor is any area of the City immune from this problem, and Whereas, the darkness of night aids certain kinds of juvemle criminal activity, i e, malicious mischief (particularly graffiti paintings), trespass, vehicle prowl, drive-by shootings, fighting and burglary, and Whereas, sports and recreational activities are largely concluded by 11 00 p m as well as area commercial movies showings and the opportunity for youth employment, and Whereas, the Pasco City Council believes that it has exhausted other less drastic measures and that a need exists to aid law enforcement and the parents of youth seeking further help to control their children and to encourage more responsibility for the control and whereabouts of their children to those parents currently ignonng their responsibilities, Now, Therefore, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PASCO, WASHINGTON, DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: New Chapter 9 90 is hereby added to the Pasco Municipal Code, which Chapter shall read as follows CHAPTER 990 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY/JUVENILE CURFEW Sections 9 90 010 9 90 020 9 90 030 9 90 040 9 90 050 Definitions Curfew for Minors Parental Responsibilities Violations—Procedure Violations—Penalties 9 90 010 DEFINITIONS For the purpose of this ordinance, the following terms, phrases, words, and their denvatives shall have the meaning given herein When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words m the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number the plural number The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory (1) "Allow" in addition to its general meaning shall include those situations where the parent, guardian or other custodian has failed to monitor or account for the juvenile's location during the specified hours (2) "Custodian" is any person over the age of 18 years who is loco parentis to a juvenile (3) "Direct route" includes any use of the public right of way in the direction of the destination which, to the extent the public right of way permits, continuously bnngs the juvenile closer to the destination 2 (4) "Juvenile" is any person that is 17 years of age or younger (5) "Guardian" is any person other than a parent who has legal guardianship of a juvenile (6) "Parent" is the natural or adoptive parent of a juvenile (7) "Public place" shall mean any street, alley, highway, sidewalk, park, playground or place to which the general public has access, and a nght to resort for business, entertainment, or other lawful purpose Public place shall include, but not be limited to, any store, shop, restaurant, tavern, bowling alley, cafe, theater, drug store, pool room, shopping center and any other place devoted to amusement or entertauunent of the general public It shall also include the front or immediate area of the above 9 90 020 CURFEW FOR MINORS (1) It shall be unlawful for any juvenile fifteen years or younger to be or remain m any public place m the city between the hours of 10 00 p m and 5 00 a m, Sunday through Thursday, and between the hours of 11 00 p m and 5 00 a m , Fnday and Saturday (2) It shall be unlawful for any minor sixteen or seventeen years of age to be or remain in any public place in the City between the hours of 11 00 p m and 5 00 a m, Sunday through Thursday, and between the hours of 12 00 p m and 5 00 am , Fnday and Saturday (3) The provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply under the followmg circumstances (a) When the juvenile is accomparued by a parent, guardian, custodian, or other adult person having custody or control of such juvenile (b) When the juvenile is engaged m employment at a city licensed business or is traveling by direct route to or from his/her place of employment, trade, professional or occupation (c) When the juvenile is in a motor vehicle and engaged m interstate travel with the consent of a parent, guardian or other adult having custody or control of such juvenile (d) When the juvenile is within one block of his/her legal residence (e) When the juvenile is traveling by direct route to or from - 3 - an adult supervised or licensed commercial activity including, but not limited to, a dance, theater presentations and sporting events Juveniles who attend such activities shall return to their homes or usual places of abode within one-half hour after the activity has ended 9 90 030 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES It shall be unlawful for a parent, guardian or other adult person having custody or control of any juvenile to knowingly allow such juvemle to be or to remam m any public place m violation of §9 90 020 9 90 040 VIOLATIONS—PROCEDURE A Should a law enforcement officer have probable cause to believe that a parent, guardian or custodian has violated the provisions of this chapter, a wntten notice/warning thereof shall be given to the parent, guardian or custodian if reasonably possible If the parent or custodian is unavailable, the officer shall mail, or cause to be mailed, the aforementioned notice/warning to the parent, guardian or custodian Said notice/warning shall inform the parent, guardian or custodian of the following (1) The location where the child was found, (2) The date and time the child was found, (3) The location of the residence where the officer took the child for safety, or, in the case of placement of the child through Child Protective Services, the telephone number of Child Protective Services, and (4) A warning that the parent, guardian or custodian was m violation of this chapter, a copy of which shall be attached to said notice/warning B The law enforcement officer shall (1) Maintain a record of any violation and the notice/warnings given as a result thereof, (2) Make a report of the mcident to the Child Protective Services of the State of Washington, and (3) Assist Child Protective Services with respect to any reasonable and lawful action with which Child Protective Services requests assistance -4 9 90 050 VIOLATIONS—PENALTIES (1) A violation of any provision of this chapter is designated as a criminal gross misdemeanor and the violator is subject to the maximum penalties allowed for such category of offense as established by state law at the time the offense occurs Provided, however, a parent, guardian or custodian shall not be cited or prosecuted for a violation of this chapter unless they have first received a notice required by §9 90 040 (2) If at any time within forty-five (45) days following the giving of notice as provided in §9 90 040 hereof, the juvenile to whom such notice related or applied is again charged, and upon such charge is subsequently convicted of a violation of the curfew provisions of this chapter, it shall be rebuttably presumed that the juvemle committed such subsequent violation with the knowledge, allowance, permission or sufferance of the parent, guardian or custodian of such juvemle, and said parent, guardian or custodian shall be charged with a violation of this chapter §2. This ordinance shall take effect five (5) days after passage and publication PASSED by the City Council of the City of Pasco, at its regular meeting on , 1993 JOYCE DeFELICE Mayor ATTEST APPROVED AS TO FORM CATHERINE D SEAMAN GREG A RUB STELLO Deputy City Clerk City Attorney -5