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GREENSBORO —  A new late-night curfew banning teenagers from downtown came as a result of feedback from area business owners that loitering youth have been driving customers away — not because they were committing crimes, city officials say.

The curfew, which goes into effect Jan. 1, bans anyone under 18 from downtown between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m, with some exceptions.

The measure passed by a 6-3 vote at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

“It’s one of the smaller things we have to deal with downtown,” said Councilman Zack Matheny, regarding overall problems with teenagers. “It’s hard to explain. But with the conversations we’ve had, (teens loitering) has been adding to the issues.”

Capt. Wayne Scott, commander of the police department’s central division, which includes downtown, said crimes involving teenagers have been relatively few.

“We don’t make a lot of criminal charges against underage folks downtown,” Scott said. “The number one issue from stakeholders is what they perceive is (teens) loitering. They come downtown, they can’t get into clubs, they hang out on sidewalks and walk up the streets.”

Business owners, he said, “perceive that in a negative light.”

Scott said most teens who have been approached by officers downtown for loitering have cooperated when asked to move along.

Even then, he said, the only major teen loitering issues have come when clubs have “teen nights” when hundreds of youth are on the streets as clubs close and can’t leave downtown as they wait for rides or walk home.

“It all depends on how you describe a problem,” Scott said of teens downtown.

Scott said overall, he feels that the majority of problems downtown have been caused by the high number of places selling alcohol in a small area.

“Those businesses are going to stay open and sell alcohol as long as they can,” Scott said.

“Between 2 and 3 a.m. (people) are all getting forced out onto the streets at once. It’s taxing on our resources because we go from a handful of calls to a huge spike for everything from disorderly conduct, fights, assaults, alcohol violations — these are things happening behind closed doors in the clubs that are being forced out onto the streets and into the parking decks.”

Matheny said he doesn’t feel that the city is treating teens unfairly with the ordinance, but instead is protecting them in the event of another shooting like the one that happened Oct. 28 outside the N Club downtown.

“If we have teens out at 2 a.m. in the morning standing outside a bar... and gunfire opens up, are they going to get shot because they are standing there?” Matheny asked. “We are saving them by getting them off the streets when something bad could go down.”

At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small voted against the curfew — saying teens aren’t the problem —  it’s irresponsible bar owners.

“The problem is some of the bar owners, the alcohol consumption and the fact we haven’t dealt with some bar-owner situations over the past three years,” she said.

Scott said he anticipates ordering his officers to use discretion in enforcing the curfew and other amended ordinances that put more restrictions on loitering.

“We are not looking to target anyone who is not causing a problem,” Scott said, who anticipates officers calling parents to pick up their children or escorting them home for breaking curfew.

“We are going to enforce the ordinances as fairly as we can. We don’t plan to change the way we police drastically. This is just one more tool in our toolbox.”
 

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com