Alexandria has officially voted to roll back the city’s curfews for minors.
The vote comes after vandalism involving juveniles earlier this summer, according to Alexandria City Administrator David Plummer. The ordinance change was proposed in a safety committee meeting after news of the vandalism.
The city council voted to approve the changes at its Aug. 3 meeting.
“Earlier in June, we had a few incidents of vandalism in the late hours of the night,” Plummer told LINK nky last month. “The graffiti seemed juvenile in nature and coincided with the schools being out for the summer. Some private property got tagged, in addition to the public bathrooms in our city park. The committee decided to tighten up our curfew hours as a result.”
The ordinance previously allowed 13 to 17-year-olds to walk around without an adult until 1 a.m. on weekends and midnight on weekdays. The new curfew is 11 p.m. on weekends and 10 p.m. on weekdays. The curfew for children under 13 was already set at 10 p.m.
A change also states that minors cannot walk around without an adult until 6 a.m. the following morning, updated from 5 a.m.
Plummer said that if an adult accompanies the juvenile, those rules do not apply. In addition, exceptions allowing for those returning from lawful employment, athletic events, educational events, and religious purposes are considered in this legislation to allow for a bit of “common-sense flexibility.”
While cities like Bellevue are also updating their ordinance and charging a fine for violations, Alexandria’s ordinance states that any police officer may stop and question any minor in suspected violation and take them into custody. There is no mention of monetary repercussions.
Alexandria Mayor Andy Schabell said he thought the changes were a good idea.
“There’s no good being done having kids walking through neighborhoods at 12:55,” Schabell said at the July 6 meeting. “So, we’re going to back that up a little bit, and I think that’s a good idea.”
