PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — During a last-minute, emergency meeting, county leaders pushed forward a minor curfew bill at National Harbor on Tuesday. There was a unanimous vote in favor of the emergency status to this bill.
“We are deeply concerned by what we’re seeing here and in other commercial zones across the county and we’re not going to tolerate it," Councilman Edward Burroughs III said.
Burroughs III, who introduced the curfew bill, tells WUSA9 the decision to pass the bill comes in response to an increase in teen violence and theft. Over the weekend, a large group of people gathered around to watch a fight at National Harbor. This is the latest instance of violence among young people seen at the harbor.
“It’s not safe to have hundreds of young people unsupervised engaged in destructive behavior here every weekend," Burroughs III said.
"They just bombarded the streets, loud making noise," one woman who lives nearby said.
Cell phone video shows a large amount of kids fighting and gathered late Saturday night into Sunday morning.
“Wow, unbelievable," the woman who lives nearby said. "“The teenagers are out of control.”
“I trust our county council to make the necessary adjustments and as their police chief I plan to carry out whatever directives they have," Prince George's County Police Department Chief Malik Aziz said.
The bill, "An Act Concerning Juvenile and Minor Curfew Zones,” would let commercial property owners request a more restrictive curfew for people younger than 17 years old.
“It’s not a blanket, one size fits all approach so there are particular hot spots in the county that have seen a massive uptick [of] 20, 30, 40, and even 100 young people on any given Friday night gather in one place,” Burroughs III said. “Each summer we see a huge uptick in crime and so we are doing our best to get ahead of that.”
This would include places like stores, hotels and restaurants, and could start any time after 5 p.m. Then curfew requests from those businesses also require a letter of support from a council member and the police chief’s approval. It also includes eventual fines up to $250 for parents who knowingly allow their children to violate the order.
“There’s been an uptick in the amount of young people gathering together 1 a.m., 2 a.m. unsupervised, engaging in disruptive behavior,” Burroughs III said.
Burroughs said this bill is just one step in the journey to curb crime ahead of the typical uptick they see in the summer. He said curfews don’t solve the entire problem and there needs to be more investment in youth programming for after school, on weekends, and throughout the summer.
“I think it will, they’ll find some other place to go undoubtedly but I think it will help," a woman who lives at the National Harbor said.
“We’ve had parents who have rented out hotel suites for 13- 14- 15-year-olds thinking that it’s a small sleepover and we come in the room and it’s 50 young people engaged in very descriptive behavior," Burroughs III said.
The bill also addresses parents who do not pick up their kids after they do something wrong, Burroughs III said. Under the bill, for every hour a county government employee is with that child while waiting for their parent to pick them up, the parent will be fined that person's salary.
The bill has passed committee as an emergency measure.
It will appear on the council's agenda on Tuesday, April 30 where it could be amended. After that, it will be scheduled for a public hearing and a final vote on the bill is expected in May.
If passed by the council, the bill would go into effect immediately.
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