LYNCHBURG, Va. – Teens in Lynchburg may have to go home earlier soon.
City leaders are looking at imposing a curfew, after 6-year-old Kingston Campbell’s death from gunfire.
While no one’s been arrested, city leaders believe juveniles may be involved.
Crime among youth is a growing problem across the Commonwealth, says Dana Schrad, Executive Director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police.
“Some of our urban centers have seen juvenile crime rise,” Schrad said. “Richmond, Petersburg, some areas like that.”
Schrad said it’s up to individual cities and counties to decide if they want to create a curfew. She said curfews send a clear message.
“Curfew ordinances are an opportunity to at least identify kids who should not be out on the streets and make sure that they get home,” Schrad said. “Oftentimes, those charges can be dropped by the courts, but it does give law enforcement the opportunity to intervene and get kids home when they shouldn’t be out late at night.”
Curfews for minors aren’t new to some localities in our region.
Botetourt County has one, and so does Danville. Danville police said there have been 36 youth curfew violations in the past five years.
Most recently, Roanoke has been advocating for a youth curfew among recent gun violence in the Star City as well.
“We don’t want to see young people get into criminal activity and get to a point where they have committed felonies, and they are in the criminal justice system in a very hardened fashion,” Schrad said. “Anything we can do to prevent and intervene before those activities become serious.”
Meanwhile, Lynchburg city leaders are thinking through their options to curb youth gun violence.
Lynchburg Mayor Stephanie Reed released the following statement, in part on Thursday.
“My objective right now is to come alongside the community and work on ways to help prevent crimes like this from continuing to happen, which is why I’m launching the ‘Take Back Our Streets Community Coalition.’ We will be working on providing opportunities for our youth to get off the streets and have safe places to go to help keep them from taking part in or becoming victims of criminal activity.”
Lynchburg Mayor Stephanie Reed
The curfew proposal is expected to go in front of the council on May 23.