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Coeymans considers a curfew

Jan 20, 2020 11:19 pm
Kate Lisa reports in the Ravena News that Coeymans town officials think a curfew for young people is the way to solve loitering and vandalism problems. But the town's law enforcement head says a curfew would be unenforceable. “I don’t see the curfew actually working because of the juvenile justice changes,” Coeymans Police Chief Daniel Contento said. “You’d have to really reach out to a juvenile justice expert and find out what we can do to a 13-, 14- and 15-year-old. It’s a violation — you can’t arrest them. Once we put hands on them, they’re detained and that’s arresting them... Can you arrest them on a curfew law?” Coeymans officials reached out to other local towns with curfews. Catskill has not enforced their curfew law in about 20 years. Chatham has not enforced theirs for 15 years. In most other towns, the curfews were passed to target a small group of youth causing problems, and when the youth got older, the town forgot about the law. Coeymans police say they have a short list of the juveniles who they say loiter, fight, vandalize, or cause other issues in the village. “It varies between the ages and sexes, but for the most part, it’s the same group,” Contento said. Read more about this story in the Ravena News.