At its Dec. 6 meeting, San Marcos City Council met for the second to last time before the end of the year to discuss juvenile curfew along with other agenda items.
Maxfield Baker, former place 1 councilman, addressed the council at the podium to express his stance on canceling the renewal of the juvenile curfew.
“There was a petition that gathered over 100 signatures in less than 17 hours,” Baker said. “I think that speaks to the volume and importance that our community feels around this issue that is unjustly being levied against minors.”
The ordinance expired in November and San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge said police are currently not enforcing it in the community.
An offense is committed if the minor is out without a guardian between 11:00 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, between midnight and 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Citizens like Heather Davis vocalized getting rid of the curfew. Davis shared her personal experience with the juvenile curfew. She and her friends were stopped by the police when they were out after dark.
“My friends were terrified and had no idea what they had done wrong and had their first face-to-face encounter with police,” Davis said. “The impacts of that night are still in their lives and their bodies.”
Standridge said that they have received no complaints about this curfew up until recently.
“To my knowledge up until today’s date, there have been zero complaints on this juvenile curfew ordinance. Zero since 2017,” Standridge said. “When this suddenly became local community news, and it was perceived that it was being abused.”
According to Standridge, 4,498 citations have been issued in 2022. Out of that number, 93 juveniles were responsible for two curfew offenses.
The council voted 7-0 to send the ordinance to the Criminal Justice Reform Committee of San Marcos to review the rules and regulations before addressing it again.
San Marcos City Council meets at 6 p.m. every first and third Tuesday of each month. For more information, visit the City Council website.