SR-9-B (51)
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PD:JTB:HA:dvm:curfew2 Santa Monica, californiJ1AR :? 1 199:
city Council Meeting 03/24/92
STAFF REPORT
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: city staff
SUBJECT: Ordinance to Revise section 4224 of the Santa Monica
Municipal Code Which Establishes a Curfew For Minors
INTRODUCTION
This staff report requests that the City Attorney's Office draft
an ordinance to revise Section 4224 of the Santa Monica Municipal
Code which sets forth curfew restrictions for minors.
BACKGROUND
The City has had a curfew ordinance (SMMC 4224) since 1948 which
prohibits those under eighteen years of age from loitering
between 10 p.m. and sunrise of the fallowing day. Under former
Police Chief James F. Keane, the ordinance was used as an
enforcement tool to send youth home who caused problems during
nighttime hours. Chief Keane considered the ordinance to be an
effective law enforcement tool and supported its usage. In early
1991, the curfew ordinance was brought to the attention of the
city Attorney's Office when the Police Department discussed
posting of signs outlining curfew hours at certain points in the
city.
In Opinion Number 91-16 dated June 13, 1991, the city Attorney's
Office stated that Municipal Code Section 4224 is likely to be
declared unconstitutional if challenged. The opinion stated that
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cities with similar statutes have had them struck down as
"...unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. It When it appeared
that its constitutionality might be in question, the Police
Department requested that the ordinance be revised so that it
could continue to be used as an enforcement tool. This request
was made even though there are no complaints on record about
Santa Monica's enforcement of the existing curfew regulations.
The decision to stop using the curfew ordinance as an enforcement
tool has significantly impacted the Department's ability to
address complaints generated by the presence of sizable numbers
of juveniles who congregate late at night and cause problems in
areas such as the Promenade, pier and parks. The number of
juveniles who frequent those areas after 10 p.m. has increased
since the police suspended enforcement of the curfew. Without
the curfew, the youth know they can come to Santa Monica and have
unlimited hours to "hang out."
According to officers who patrol the Bayside District and the
Pier, the problems and complaints from visitors and shop owners
have increased proportionally to the increase in the number of
young people who "hang out." Police supervisory personnel report
that groups of 10 to 17 year olds from different areas congregate
in the Bayside District nightly. Some of the groups are
confrontational, seeking out groups from other areas or
ethnicities to challenge. Some of the youth are armed.
As the numbers escalate and the youth congregate in close
proximity, the potential for violence including assaults and
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shootings increases. Recently, during an arrest situation, an
officer had to call for officer assistance when seriously
challenged by a group of juveniles. Citizens have stated they are
intimidated and sometimes harassed by groups of youths. At
times, groups of juveniles obstruct walkways and make rude
comments to passerbys.
Police Department staff expect that the problem with juveniles
congregating in city-operated areas will escalate during the
summer. The officers polled anticipate that without the curfew
ordinance available to use, additional enforcement efforts will
be required. It is important to note that the increase in
gang-related problems in the region are relevant to Santa Monica
because of our various visitor attractions which serve thousands
of people weekly. As will be discussed later in the report,
being the only City in the area without a curfew ordinance puts
our public safety enforcement efforts at a real as well as
relative disadvantage.
DISCUSSION
In general, a curfew ordinance is a means to address specific
complaints generated by the presence of sizable numbers of
juveniles who congregate late at night and cause problems in
areas such as parks, malls, beaches and piers. A simple
procedure is followed when a juvenile is in violation of a curfew
or loitering law. The juvenile is issued a citation, brought to
the pOlice station and then released to a parent or legal
guardian. The police officer who detains the youth schedules an
appointment with the agency's juvenile staff for the youth and a
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parent or guardian. In the event the juvenile is a habitual
curfew violator, he or she is required to go to juvenile traffic
court where the case is heard by a traffic hearing officer. As
of January 1990, a hearing officer can adjUdicate the violation
under Section 256 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
It was determined that other law enforcement agencies use
municipal ordinances to enforce curfew restrictions. A recent
survey was conducted involving eleven local cities and three in
Northern california. Police departments in Beverly Hills, Culver
city, Fresno, Huntington Beach, Ing1ewood, -Long Beach, Los
Angeles, Newport Beach, pasadena, Redondo Beach, Sacramento, and
Torrance were contacted. The Los Angeles and Sacramento
Sheriff's Departments were also surveyed.
All but four of the municipalities have curfew ordinances. The
other four cities (Huntington Beach, Inglewood, Long Beach and
Redondo Beach) have loitering rather than curfew laws, but they
are very simil ar to curfew ordinances and are enforced for the
same purpose. Each of the agencies enforces their ordinances.
Only Long Beach uses its loitering law " on a regular basis to
conduct curfew sweeps." The remaining agencies use their
curfeW/loitering ordinances on an occasional basis and in
response to a particular problem.
A follow-up survey of the 14 police agencies determined that only
one of the municipalities has had its curfew/loitering ordinance
challenged. The City of Sacramento's curfew ordinance was
contested in 1972. The constitutionality of the ordinance was
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affirmed (In re Nancy C., 28 Cal. App. 3d 747, 105 Cal. Rptr. 113
(1972). In addition, the court found that:
"The community has a special interest in the protection of
children of immature years and in the reduction of juvenile
nocturnal crime. Thus, curfew ordinances for minors are
justified as necessary police regulations to control the
presence of juveniles in public places at nighttime with
the attendant risk of mischief, and they promote the safety
and good order of the community by reducing the incidence
of juvenile criminal activity."
It should be noted that all of the curfew ordinances are modeled
after the ordinance adopted by the City of Los Angeles. In fact,
the majority of the ordinances are identical to the ordinance
enacted in Los Angeles. Those that differ from the Los Angeles
ordinance do so with only minor variations. According to the Los
Angeles City Attorney's Office this ordinance has "never been
declared unconstitutional."
SUMMARY
In order to have a curfew ordinance that meets the needs of the
communi ty while being legally acceptable, the Police Department
recommends that the City Attorney's Office be directed to draft a
new curfew ordinance which mirrors the ordinance enacted by the
city of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles ordinance prohibits the
unsupervised presence of minors under the age of 18 years old in
public places between the hours of 10 p.m. and sunrise the
following day. The primary provisions in the Los Angeles
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ordinance that need to be incorporated in the Santa Monica
ordinance are exceptions to the ordinance. The exceptions in the
Los Angeles ordinance are as follows:
(a) When the minor is accompanied by his or her parent or
parents, legal guardian or other adult person having the
legal care or custody of the minor, or by his or her spouse
eighteen years of age or older;
(b) When the minor is upon an errand directed by his or her
parent or parents or legal guardians or other adult persons
having the legal care or custody of the minor, or by his or
her spouse eighteen years of age or older;
(c) When the minor is returning directly home from a public
meeting, or a place of pUblic entertainment, such as a movie,
play, sporting event, dance or school activity; or
(d) When the presence of such minor in said place or places is
connected with or required with respect to a business, trade,
profession or occupation in which said minor is lawfully
engaged.
The Los Angeles ordinance contains the " . . . reasonable and
comprehensive exceptions relied upon by the court to sustain the
Sacramento (curfew) statute "[In re Nancy C. J 28 Cal. Appx. 3d
747, 105 Cal. Rptr 113 (1972)].
Police staff recommends one change to the ordinance adopted by
the city of Los Angeles. Staff suggests a 10 p.m. curfew Sunday
through Thursday and an 11 p.m. curfew on Friday and saturday.
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This recommendation results from a discussion between the Chief
of Police and a group of youth from Kids city.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
None.
RECOMMENDATION
city staff recommends that the City Attorney's Office be directed
to draft an ordinance which revises section 4224 of the Santa
Monica Municipal Code as outlined above.
Prepared By: James T. Butts, Chief of Police
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Summary of Street Performer's Committee
Proposal for Changes To the Temporary
Ordinance Governing Outdoor Performance
At 3rd Street Promenade
September 23th. 1991
A few weeks ago, when Santa Monica City CouncIl considered
the matter of street performers at Thud Street Promenade. we
performers told you we were ready to work cooperatively with
Council, Bayside District Corp, merchants and residents to better
manage our performances. Since then. a lot of good things have
happened. This letter comes to you from a committee of performers
formed in cooperation with all those parties. The committee now
provides a mechamsm for both self-management by the performers.
and input by the various interest groups lllvolved with the
Promenade Should any party have concerns about particular aspects
of our performances, the committee will work with all groups to
resolve the difficulty. The committee has already addressed the
pnmary concerns of noise, merchant revenue and performance
crowding. Accordingly, we feel it is vital that the temporary Council
ordinance drafted on this matter now be revised to bring it up to
date with the new situation.
The following is a summary of the committee's
recommenda tion s:
-A committee of street performers eXists to manage performances at
Third Street Promenade. This committee will work to resolve all
complaints involving performers. Communicate such complaints to
the committee.
- The ordinance pertaining to performers should be revised to treat
all acts on the basis of decibel level regardless of how the sound is
produced. There are two ways to reduce decibel level at a locations
sensitive to sound: 1) Turn the volume down at the source, and 2)
Move the source farther away from the sensitive location. The
current prohibnion in the ordinance banning all amplifiers, should be
removed. Sound levels of amplified instruments can be more easily
controlled than can acoustic instruments, but both types can be
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controlled, and the committee provldes a mechanism to control sound
levels. The committee has derived formulas from fundamental
pnnClples of physics which describe the distances and sound levels
needed to achieve specifIC sound reductions at specific locations., and
a committee member has purchased a decibel meter for this purpose.
- The committee will work to control sound levels. If a speclfic act
fails to comply with the committee's recommendations, the
committee will communicate this to the local police, and they are free
to resolve the matter as needed.
-The commlttee proposes a "rolling break" and "hold and release"
schedule affecting large acts across the Promenade. "Rolling breaks"
will shut large acts down for specified break penods across an entire
Promenade block, and each of the three blocks will take their turn to
break over a time cycle, for example, sequential 30 minute breaks
over a 90 minute time cycle. When crowds are "released" during
such a break, they will have the opportunity to dlsperse into nearby
shops
- The committee wlll assign positions, and large acts will rotate daily
to other locatlOns, never playmg two weekend days in a row in a
gi ven spot. In order to achieve this goal, and the City Council and
Bayside's goal of getting performers to all blocks mcluding the
deserted north block, the committee recommends that addltional
lights slmilar to the central performance area be installed in
additional locations on all three blocks. This is key to encouragmg
performers to more umformly spread out over the whole Promenade.
- The sectIOn of the temporary ordinance banning performance
between 2P .M. and 5P .M. on weekdays should be removed, since the
committee's "rolling break" and noise control services will eliminate
the problems those restrictions were designed to address Since
business has been "dead" during these periods, if anything, adding
performance dunng this period will bring people back to the
Promenade during this time.
- The committee will issue recognizable badges to all performers
complying with its guidelines. Performers who choose not to follow
committee guidelines pertaining to sound, locatiOn and schedule, will
have to individually negotiate wnh merchants, police, etc., which is
their choice. Also, the committee will not regulate any aspect of the
artistic content of any performance.
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- The temporary ordinance should be revised so that holidays are
treated like weekend days. The committee has been in
communication with the Santa Monica Police Dept., and we have
informally agreed to do this. City Council should formalize this in the
ordinance.
- The temporary ordinance prOVision prohibiting street performances
during "special events" at the Promenade should be removed. The
committee believes that at some events, some performing may be
appropriate. For example. such performing lent a nice ambiance to
the food festIval a few months ago. On the other hand, it would not
be appropnate for street musicians to perform at a music event such
as the recent Folk and Jazz festival. The committee proposes to work
with Bayside District Corp. and City Council to determine when
specific types of performing are appropriate at specific special
events. on a case by case basis.
- The committee is gratified by the spirit of cooperation from Bayside,
the merchants, the performers and the public. and by presenting
these proposals for discussion and review, we wish to continue this
fine level of cooperation.
Mickey O'Connor (213)397-0321 (Juggler)
Mitch Rudman (213)824-1082 (Comedy)
Russ Taylor (213)205-8405 (a.k.a. Balloon Mann)
Kathryn Mora (213)839-3905 (Katrina, the Clown)