El Paso County renews juvenile curfew
El Paso County is renewing it’s juvenile curfew for unincorporated areas outside the city limits. County commissioners on Monday unanimously approved continuing the curfew. It’s been in place since 1995 and been renewed every three years.
That left it up to commissioners to decide it’s still necessary. As it stands, the curfew is in effect from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day for juveniles under the age of 17.
Except for a few narrow exemptions such as work, school or approved errands, fines for breaking the curfew can be up to $50 for the first offense, then up to $200 on further offenses. Deputies have issued an average of 150 citations a year since 2010.
Overall, sheriff’s deputies said the curfew is meant to curb juvenile delinquency and gang activity. While they may not issue a citation in every instance, Cmdr. Marco Vargas with the Sheriff’s Office said the law an important part of the patrol division’s work.
“This is a necessary component for our operations, to remain proactive,” Vargas said. “We’ve changed our structure, our mission for the patrol division. We’re more of a community-oriented, intelligence-based policing concept, which includes a lot more interaction with juveniles, with the community. And of course with the number of citations, will probably not be as high as it has been before because it’s important for us to not only enforce it, but to educate our juvenile citizens.”
The county’s curfew hours match what is also in place for many cities in the county, including the city of El Paso.
