FAYETTEVILLE, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – The Fayette County Commission is considering the implementation of a county-wide curfew for residents under the age of 18. This decision came after Katie Johnson, prevention coordinator for the Integrated Community Engagement (ICE) Collaborative, met with commissioners during Friday’s regular meeting to give an update on the program.
ICE, according to Johnson, is a long-term drug addiction prevention program that has very little to do with drugs. The program focuses on how communities can be designed around thier children through quality time, productive activities, etc.
During the update, Johnson stated that 2019 data collected from Fayette County Schools and the Fayette County Health Department showed that 72 percent of children were not participating in any kind of organized activity, such as church, sports, 4H, etc.
These statistics also showed a large number of individuals under the age of 18 out after midnight. Johnson explained that statistics show that children who are out after a certain time become more susceptible to engaging in violence, drug use and dangerous situations.
“How do we make the community better for our kids,” Johnson asked. “We need to keep communicating, and that is why I am here today: to open that channel of communication.”
After looking at the numbers, Commissioner Allison Taylor raised the question of a county-wide curfew. The suggestion was accepted by Commissioners Tom Louisos and John Brenneman, as well Johnson, who stated that various municipalities that have already implanted curfews have seen success.
The commission agreed that before anything is finalized, they need to determine the specifics, including curfew time, penalties for violating curfew, productive ways to engage violators and ways to get parents involved.
Possible penalties included teen court and immediate community service. There was also talk of encouraging parents to install tracking apps on their children’s phones to become more proactive in knowing where their children are, what they are doing and who they are with.
“We need to see how we could enforce this in an effective way,” Taylor said, noting 10 p.m. as possible a curfew time.
Taylor said there will be exceptions made for children who can prove that they are out late due to work.
“Anything to do with children, I feel all three of us will support,” Brenneman said. “I have walked out of a store at 11:30 at night and have seen a lot of kids out on the street, and I can tell you they’re not doing what they should be doing.”
A representative for ICE, who attended the meeting with Johnson, said that if Fayette County chooses to mandate a curfew, residents need to work together as a community to enforce the new rule.
“We have to change the culture of what is acceptable for our kids,” she said. “We know we have data that show bad things happen after this time. As a county, we need to say that kids need to be in before this time. As a community, we need to take care of this and get back to the roots of what makes this a strong community. We have that community in Fayette County which is going to make this successful.”
ICE has agreed to supply the commission with statistics that support the need for a curfew. These statistics will be sent to the county’s mayors as the commission works to set the fundamental guidelines of the curfew.