In an effort to curb crime ahead of summer surges, city leaders across the country are now cracking down of curfews for kids and teens.
"Formally I’m issuing a limited emergency order that imposes a curfew for all individuals under the age of 21-years-old," said Milwaukee's Mayor, Cavalier Johnson.
Over the weekend, Johnson issued a curfew for unaccompanied minors after multiple mass shootings killed three people and injured 24.
Shortly after his announcement, Chicago Mayor, Lori Lightfoot became the second official to enact a curfew.
“This new policy will be strictly enforced and violations will be dealt with swiftly,” Lightfoot said in a statement.
The strict lockdown comes in the wake of a 16-year-olds shooting death and a string of downtown disturbances. Chicago's curfew is limited to Millennium park for unaccompanied minors under the age of 18-years. They're banned after 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
Meanwhile, here in Baltimore, we’re also seeing more young people involved in crimes, both as victims and suspects themselves.
Last week, a junior prom party turned tragic after 18-year-old Jasmine Brunson Jr. was shot dead outside of his Airbnb.
Another example from earlier this month, a 16-year-old was charged with murder for gunning down a Baltimore bouncer.
When asked last week on WBAL radio if a curfew was something our city would be considering, Police Commissioner, Michael Harrison didn't necessarily say no.
"It could be. The issue becomes how do we enforce it? Do we have a place to bring the curfew violators? What’s the timeline? How do we track parents down? How long can they stay there," said Harrison.
Other law enforcement officials we spoke with essentially echoed Harrison, saying a curfew would come with a series of hurdles, however, they’re also not counting it out completely.
"They always have the potential to work, but the problem is enforcement," said Former Baltimore Police Commissioner, Jason Johnson.
The police can respond to incidents quicker because they will not be weeding out the people who are doing bad things from the people who are doing good things, " said Former FBI Agent, Dr. Tyrone Powers, "So it has pros and cons.
Monday, FOX 45 turned to those in charge of putting these types of policies in place for their take.
So far, Councilman Antonio Glover was the only one to respond, saying in this city a curfew simply wouldn’t make sense.
Technically, Baltimore City has had a city-wide curfew in place for years, it's just not currently being enforced. The law states children 13 and under must be inside from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., while children 14 to 16 have an 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
Glover sent the following statement pointing to the time of day we're seeing crime as the main reason he doesn't believe enforcing the curfew be effective:
What we are noticing is that many of the crimes being committed are happening during times when the established curfew is not in effect. Currently, we are trying to secure funding from the budget to be able to expose our youth to experiences in which they don’t currently have access. We are continuing to work with our community partners to provide programming that will provide healing, resources, and exciting opportunities for our youth.