Teens and preteens no longer face a city curfew after 2007’s Juvenile Curfew Ordinance was repealed by the city of Frisco with the passage of House Bill 1819 that prohibits political subdivisions from adopting or enforcing juvenile curfews.
Mayor Jeff Cheney believes that the juvenile curfew was effective in protecting citizens, but the city didn’t have a choice.
“It’s been an effective tool in our tool kit… to help juveniles sometimes when they’re in need of help,” Cheney said in an interview with Community Impact. “It’s a disappointment… that we’re being mandated from the state level on how we keep our citizens safe.”
According to Frisco Police Chief David Shilson, the curfew’s goal was to prevent juveniles from becoming victims to crimes that may happen at night.
“Beyond the curfew violation, the goal was to get these juveniles off the streets after hours and get them back home to prevent them from being victims of crime that take place in the late-night hours,” Shilson said in an interview with Community Impact.
Both the curfew and the recent decision to repeal it could potentially impact students throughout Frisco ISD.
Sophomore Vikas Varanasi believes that curfews infringe on youth’s rights to freedom and instead, establishing a curfew should be the parent’s duty.
“I don’t think [the curfew is] a good idea because that’s challenging the whole basis of this county; freedom,” Varanasi said. “But it should be the parent’s job to enforce curfews if they want to.”
On the other hand, junior Ashvita Suresh-Kumar believes the curfew should not have been repealed because of juvenile safety.
“I think that the juvenile curfew was there for a reason, it wasn’t only for juveniles’ safety but also for people around them,” Suresh-Kumar said. “For example, TAMS University has curfews for student safety and to prevent people from being out late at night. Unless people have something work-related there isn’t a reason for minors to be out from 12:01-6 a.m. For that reason, I don’t think there was any need to repeal the curfew.”
