The Harris County committee reviewing the county's
nighttime curfew held a hearing on August 29, and
according to our reports, around 40 people were in
attendance to give an opinion on the District Attorney's
request to expand the curfew to the daytime hours of 9
a.m. to 2 p.m.. According to our sources, the DA
presented statistics showing that 25% of the
burglaries in the county were committed by minors 17
and under. The daytime curfew was needed, he said,
to give the police a reason to stop and question
compulsory attendance-age young people who are in
public during school hours and, they hope lower crime
rates, although no evidence was offered to show such
a result in communities that have adopted such
ordinances. The curfew would allow law enforcement
officials to cite a student under 18 who was in public
without a parent during school hours. Home
schoolers were told they could receive an ID from the
law enforcement officials to show when stopped by
law enforcement officials, implying that this would
resolve any issue they might have.
Eight people gave testimony (all home schoolers),
and all were opposed to the proposal. They pointed
out that according to the U.S. Department of Justice
studies, the vast majority of crimes by minors are
committed during the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.,
which of course, would not be impacted by daytime
curfews. They also raised concerns about abuse of
the curfew by law enforcement officials upon innocent
students in the course of their normal home school
activities. Indeed, we have noted many examples of
law enforcement officers who are overzealous in their
use of such curfews, and students have been told that
they cannot be in public during school hours or simply
being cited and being required to take the time and
expense to convince a judge that they are innocent.
One speaker noted that her grandfather had not fought
the Nazis during World War II only to have his
grandchildren "stopped and asked for their 'papers'
on the streets of Harris County." A letter from State
Representative Patricia Harless was read into the
record, noting her opposition to a daytime curfew; and
County Judge Ed Emmett made a brief appearance
saying that he was strongly leaning against the
proposal.
THSC has often noted that the Texas Attorney General
has ruled that law enforcement officers are allowed to
help school districts enforce the compulsory
attendance laws. Therefore, it would not appear that
these officers need a daytime curfew to stop students
in public during school hours. While we appreciate
and support the Harris County District Attorney's
efforts to lower crime rates, we are aware of no
evidence that would show that such a curfew would
result in lower crime rates; we do have anecdotal
evidence to suggest that such an ordinance would
impact the freedom of home school families in Harris
County. While one committee member noted that the
city of Houston has a daytime curfew and that he was
unaware of any problems form it, we have had reports
to the contrary over the years. One also wonders why
the committee did not present evidence that the
Houston daytime curfew had resulted in a reduction of
crime since its introduction. We must assume that
the reason for not presenting such evidence is that it
does not exist.
When asked for a show of hands of those opposed to
the proposed ordinance, 35 people responded.
Juvenile Curfew Review Committee senior assistant,
county attorney, Janet Marton reported all of her email
on the topic was running in opposition. The Harris
County Commissioners will address this issue at the
September 11, 2007, meeting which begins at 10
a.m.
We encourage Harris County home schoolers to
contact their county commissioner and the county
judge to register opposition to the proposed daytime
curfew as well as Assistant County Attorney, Janet
Marton. You may send comments to them at the
addresses listed below. You may also attend the
Commissioners meeting.
For more information on daytime curfews click here.
Janet_Marton@ccl.hctx.net
Judge Emmett: judge.emmett@cjo.hctx.net
Commissioner Frank
Lee
Commissioner Garcia:
sylvia_garcia@pct2.co.harris.tx.us
Commissioner
Raddick
Commissioner Eversole: JerryEversole@hcp4.net
