Former D.C. Council member and current mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie urged the council Tuesday to reinstate a permanent teen curfew authority.
In early May, the D.C. Council passed a permanent youth curfew law as the District tries to get a handle on so-called teen takeovers in areas such as Navy Yard and U Street.
Laws in D.C. require congressional review, so the nighttime restrictions likely won’t go into effect until the late summer.
“The people of the District of Columbia deserve to feel safe,” McDuffie said at a news conference on Tuesday.
He said that by not voting to extend them, Janeese Lewis George, his chief rival for mayor, was neglecting the safety and peace of mind of Washingtonians.
“They deserve to feel safe in their homes, on their blocks, in our parks, on Metro, in our business corridors and in every neighborhood across all eight wards of our city. And our young people deserve safe places to go, positive opportunities to grow and adults willing to lead with both accountability and compassion,” McDuffie said. “Right now, too many Washingtonians feel like they are not getting either.”
As it stands now, the city is operating under a “temporary teen curfew authority” which expires June 6.
McDuffie called this a “patchwork solution,” and not tenable in the long term, and he blamed Lewis George for not taking action when she had the opportunity to do so.
McDuffie maintains that curfews are only one tool the city can use to quell teen violence.
“We need to invest in the root causes and long-term solutions as well, but it is not an either/or proposition. It is a both, and we need to extend the juvenile curfew or reinstate it, because it lapsed, because the council did not take action in April nor did they take action in May,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Lewis George campaign said that this is a non-issue because there already is a curfew in place until June 6 under the emergency authority, and the mayor has the ability to renew it if necessary, so permanent authority is not necessary. A spokesperson further alleged that McDuffie was simply playing politics.
“We need to reinstate the temporary curfew, while also investing in the communities where a lot of these young folks are coming from — communities where they don’t feel safe in their own neighborhoods, communities where they don’t feel like the programming exists — but we have to really lead with accountability in a way that is more meaningful for the folks who are impacted by these types of ‘teen takeovers’ and other violent activity,” he said.
In a letter marked to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and the rest of the 13-member board, McDuffie wrote about the effectiveness of the curfew zones last summer and said without it, “the council cannot afford to leave law enforcement and communities without every appropriate tool at their disposal.”
He added that without D.C.’s elected officials taking a stand on public safety, it shows the White House and President Donald Trump’s administration that “the District cannot govern itself.”
“Every week that this Council allows curfew authority to lapse, it hands the White House and its allies fresh evidence for that narrative and justification for federal intervention in our local affairs,” he wrote.
WTOP’s Valerie Bonk and Ciara Wells contributed to this report.
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