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Provo City Administration Asks Council to Not Act on Curfew Ordinance
The Provo City Administration has sent out a letter in response to the heavily scrutinized Provo curfew ordinance proposal. This ordinance has been noticed for consideration in today’s council meeting.
Within this letter Mayor John Curtis addresses some of the issues which led to the proposed ordinance and cites community concern as a good reason for seeking a superior solution to a truancy problem.
This ordinance received a good deal of attention over the past week with a number of news and radio stations discussing it, ABC 4 reporting on the issue, KSL, BYU, tribune, as well as the Daily Herald, and the Deseret News even mentioning a planned ‘peaceful protest’.
The letter which went out this morning states:
“Coming together to address the problem is a better approach than feeling divided by any one possible solution. And a solution that works in Provo for our community, devised by our community, will result in a vastly superior solution than one developed without the involvement of all. The current daytime curfew ordinance as drafted has clearly not met that high standard, and we ask the council to not act on it at the meeting on March 1. The Administration looks forward over the next few months to the effort of our entire community to find answers to these very challenging problems.”
I appreciate the statement above very much and commend the Mayor for the Administration’s level-headed response. Our community has clearly expressed a desire to have their voices heard and I appreciate the open discussion which so many within our city and state have created over the last few days.
Many have speculated that in response to this letter, this ordinance will likely die. As previously mentioned I am opposed to this ordinance, and as a council member will vote in favor of dismissing this ordinance.
Additional Information Regarding Proposed Daytime Curfew Ordinance
Since yesterday there has been overwhelming attention given to Provo’s proposed daytime curfew law. I’d like to thank everyone who has taken their time to comment and give thought to this ordinance.
A number of residents have written and called asking for additional information regarding this proposed law. As always, the recordings of the discussions as well as their minutes are available on the city’s website. I would like to clarify a few points of concern:
- An older version of this legislation as a secondary offense is being circulated. This is not likely to be the final draft that the council will consider. During our most recent meeting on this proposed legislation, a motion was made that created this law as a primary offense rather than a secondary, providing officers with the option of stopping children outside during school hours without other probable cause (See video). It’s not clear what form this legislation will take when the council finalizes it on Tuesday. The new law should be available sometime before this meeting but it has not yet been distributed to the council or the public.
- Since the beginning of this discussion I have been very open in sharing my opinion. While this legislation has been drafted with the best of intentions, I firmly believe that it could have negative consequences for our community. I don’t believe there is any intent to harass home schoolers or those of us that happen to look young. However, we should not make laws which make such harassment possible as well as legal. It just doesn’t make sense.
- During this process we as a council have given much time and consideration to the views of the legislation’s proponents. We have not yet had a chance to listen to the views of parents that homeschool, attend private schools, or have any other situation in which this law could cause inconvenience or harm. I think those opinions are just as important as those that want this law passed.
- I understand that people have different views on this ordinance. Wherever you stand on this issue, I want to hear it. Please continue to share your opinions leading up to and at our next council meeting.
I’d like to end by sharing this email I received.
Dear Mr. Beck,
I was a homeschool kid in California and I was often stopped by police and harassed and interrogated for being out and about during school hours. We would ride our bikes from one side of town to the other to attend orchestra at the junior high. My parents made us school id cards and still this was not enough. We were told it looked homemade and not official enough. We then had to get a state issued id and a letter from the school district, both of which we had to keep on us at all times. To this day I still have an anxiety attack every time a cop pulls up behind me. Every time we were stopped it made me feel like I was a bad kid and heaven forbid is someone I knew saw me being questioned by a cop. There is already a system put in place to deal with truant kids. Lets enforce the system we have. I don’t think any kid, especially if they are not breaking the law, should be subject to or treated as a second class citizen. I know there are many kids who, like me, graduate early at 16 or 17 years and go on to attend college. This is a college town what about those kids. This is a bad idea! We have truant officers assigned to every school, we pay them, so let’s use them. Yes, there needs to be consequences for delinquent children but lets not make a sweeping assumption that all children who are not in school during school hours are delinquents. I want my kids to trust and respect the police and I don’t see this proposed ordinance as helping me to do that. Why does the city feel they need this ordinace? Are we really having a problem with delinquent kids running a muck all over Provo? I live downtown, and I’ve not see anything like that in my neighborhood. So if this is happening, where is it happening? I’m strongly opposed to this ordinance and I want my voice to be heard…Thank you for informing me of this situation and for giving me the opprotunity to make my voice heard.
Sincerely,
Sariah Price
Proposed Daytime Curfew Ordinance
During next Tuesday’s Council Meetings there will be a vote to consider implementing a ‘Daytime Curfew Ordinance’. (At 7pm in the council chambers at 351 West Center St. Provo)
I have already heard from parents of children that attend various public schools, as well as charter schools and home school. They have all expressed concern about an ordinance which will cause children to be detained any time they are outside school during the day regardless of the reason.
This proposed ordinance will require our already overworked police department to stop, search, and detain any child that appears to be under the age of 18 that is outside during normal school hours. For example, under this ordinance a home schooled child riding his bike to his grandmother’s house could be arrested, searched, and fined simply for being outside (its happened in other cities).
This ordinance has been widely criticized, the local paper has taken a stand against it, the tribune has questioned its constitutionality, and several council members and school board members have expressed concern over an ordinance that will essentially force every one in Provo that happens to look under 18 to carry an ID at all times or face possible arrest. This type of an ordinance has directly targeted and harmed homeschooling and charter school programs in other cities.
While the actual ordinance language has not yet been made public, past discussion indicates that home schoolers will be required to request a pass from the school district in order to be permitted to go outside without being arrested or fined.
I am writing this because unfortunately, there is still a strong push to pass this ordinance. Consideration of this ordinance has spanned the course of nearly a dozen meetings making it impossible for the public to adequately follow what has been happening. We need more residents to make their opinions known to the municipal council!
Please take the time to forward this via email to other concerned residents, to contact me at sterling@sterlingbeck.com with your thoughts on this ordinance, as well as contact all of the municipal council members by clicking this link.
Please also consider attending the council meeting on Tuesday March 1st at 7pm to speak against it. Additional information can be found here.