The Camden Curfew program is an innovative collaboration between the community, law enforcement and city agencies and social service providers.  The Camden county Prosecutor's Office began looking for a way to address community concerns regarding curfew violations and after many meetings with community stakeholders and local city and social services, began a program that not only addresses the juveniles out after curfew but the reasons that they are out late at night.  After the youth is picked up, they are brought to a neutral location where they are interviewed by a volunteer.  The parent/guardian is then called to pick up the child.  When the parent/guardian arrives they, too, are interviewed by a volunteer as to why  there is a curfew and if the parent needs extra help, social and other services are offered to them. The curfew program does employ a 'three strikes' approach: if the same youth has been picked up 3 times, the parent is issued a Failure to Supervise (MC§ 382-5) summons.

Most violent crime occurs between the hours of 11:00 PM - 2:00 AM and children that are out on the streets late at night are likely to become of victim - or a perpetrator of that crime.  In February 2008, in response to the increase in homicides and the unfortunate increase in juvenile homicides, the Camden Police Department requested that the curfew (long established in Camden) be changed in an effort to protect the youth.  City council approved the amendment to the ordinance - curfew hours are now 10:00 PM, seven days a week.  The exceptions include going to/coming from a school or church function or place of employment.  Please report youth violating curfew on the DCCB website: CamdenDCCB.org.

To date, the curfew program has been able to offer services to 673 youth and their families.  The youngest child picked up for curfew violation was 5 years old but the majorityof the youth are 15 and 16 years old.  Most of the youth violating curfew were picked up at a late-night eatery and the curfew program has found runaways and missing youth as well.  Also, in 2006 the Uniform Crime Report had 5,079 juvenile offenses listed for Camden and two-thirds of those offenses were curfew violations.  The 2007 report shows a drastic decrease in juvenile offenses: 3,814.

The focus of this program is SAFETY - keeping the youth off of the streets late at night and educating the youth and parents about the curfew - also offering real-time assistance to the families in need.  The curfew program also does a follow-up with the families and hopes to expand the follow-up very shortly.

The next step for the curfew program is to include truancy - a neccessary action for the youth in the city.  The drop-out rate at Camden High alone is staggering - 24% in '04 - '05 according to the NJ Department of education, School Report Card, 2006.

The curfew program needs your help!  We are looking fro volunteers for interviewing youth and parents, follow-up phone calls, monitors and any great ideas for helping our youth.  Please contact Wren Ingram at 856-966-3606 or camdencurfew@gmail.com for more information.