Gainey opposes plan to step up curfew enforcement in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s office said Tuesday that the mayor does not support a proposal to ramp up enforcement of the city’s curfew for minors.

City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith on Monday said she is planning to introduce legislation this week that aims to enforce the city’s curfew for juveniles and open 24-hour resource centers for youth who violate curfew or need a safe space to find help.

“As it stands now there are considerable barriers to a curfew — mostly it would involve asking our officers to require anyone to show an ID without probable cause, and the state of Pennsylvania does not require anyone to have an ID while in public,” said Maria Montaño, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

She said the administration did look into reinstating curfew enforcement last summer.

The city already has a curfew in place, but it hasn’t been enforced because there’s nowhere for police to take juveniles who break it, Kail-Smith said.

The city had enforced a curfew for minors under former Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, under whose administration the city opened a curfew center for youth in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood.

Kail-Smith said the idea of reinstating a curfew and launching resource centers is meant to help reduce violence in the city.

The curfew would be in effect from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and from 12 to 6 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays in July and August. During the rest of the year, the curfew would be in place from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and from 12 to 6 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

City code allows exceptions for minors who are accompanied by their guardians, along with minors who are on a “reasonable errand,” working, traveling to or from a job, involved in an emergency, attending school or religious activities or on the sidewalks outside their homes.

Kail-Smith said she wanted enforcement and curfew centers to be “not necessarily punitive, but helpful.”

Gainey’s office said the mayor was concerned the measure would have a negative impact on the youth’s relationship with law enforcement.

“We also believe that this type of stop creates more distrust between our officers and our youth, and does not build the type of community-police relationships we need,” Montaño said.

She said the mayor does support the idea of providing city-run centers to provide added resources and support for the city’s youth, such as “expanding the hours our rec centers are open in order to provide more positive opportunities for our kids.”

Kail-Smith said Monday she planned to introduce the legislation to City Council Wednesday.