PDF: Offenses and miscellaneous provisions
The Hamilton County Commission may ask state lawmakers to add Hamilton County to a state law that sets a curfew for minors, the commission’s chairman said.
“We have got a serious problem with discipline,” Chairman Bill Hullander said. “I think we need to look at it. To be out after 1 a.m. without an adult ... I don’t think it’s safe.”
Dorothy Garner, 17, said a countywide curfew for teenagers probably would not keep kids from going out at night.
“I think teenagers are still going to do what they want to do,” she said.
Miles Goforth, 13, agreed. He said punishments would have to be very strict if the curfew is to be any sort of deterrent.
As for him, Miles said he would prefer not to have such a curfew.
“I wouldn’t like it,” he said.
Commissioners have discussed the possibility of a curfew in light of reports of a string of recent after-hours parties and shootings.
County Commissioner Greg Beck, who at the commission’s Feb. 20 meeting said “it would take an army” to enforce a curfew in the entire county, said he just would like to see the city’s curfew enforced.
“If they did enforce theirs, we would get the results we wanted,” he said. “The problems are going on in the city.”
Most of Hamilton County’s municipalities, including Chattanooga, have curfews in place.
Law enforcement officials have had difficulty enforcing the restrictions, said Chattanooga Police Department spokeswoman Lt. Kim Noorbergen.
“The problem with curfew enforcement is it’s not just as simple as picking up juveniles and taking them to juvenile court,” she said.
Lt. Noorbergen explained that police cannot book a minor on a curfew violation until the third offense. On the first two offenses, police call the offender’s parents and issue a citation.
Deputy Chief Mark Rawlston said manpower is an issue.
“We don’t have the staff to do it. Juvenile court doesn’t have the staff to do it. Juvenile intake doesn’t have the staff to do it,” Chief Rawlston said.
Lt. Noorbergen agreed.
“You’ve got a party going on at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, you’ve got 2 or 300 juveniles out there in the parking lot, and you’ve got maybe 50 police officers working the whole city,” she said. “We don’t have the manpower to adequately call parents or to take them anywhere. That’s a problem that we face.”
Chattanooga’s curfew says children 16 or younger must be off the streets by 11 p.m., except on weekends, when the curfew begins at midnight.
For officials to put a countywide curfew in place, state lawmakers must act, said Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin Taylor.
Currently, Shelby and Hardeman counties in West Tennessee are included under a state curfew law.
That law states no child under 18 can be in public without an adult after 11 p.m. on weeknights. Anyone between 17 and 18 years old can stay out until midnight on weekends, under the law.
The law also includes a provision that allows Knox County to have the same curfew as Knoxville. That curfew is from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m.
State Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, head of the Hamilton County delegation in the Tennessee General Assembly, said local lawmakers would seek to get Hamilton County in the law if the commission made such a request.
“The delegation would be supportive of that,” he said.
Cities do not have to go through the Legislature to put a curfew on the books, according to a 2000 attorney general’s opinion.
Staff Writer Lauren Gregory contributed to this story.
CURFEWS
* Chattanooga — Sunday through Thursday 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., Friday and Saturday 12 a.m. to 6 a.m.
* Red Bank — At night starting at 11 p.m.
* Soddy-Daisy —11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
* Collegedale — At night starting at 11 p.m.
* East Ridge — At night starting at 11 p.m.
* Lakesite — Sunday through Thursday 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., Friday and Saturday 12 a.m. to 6 a.m.
* Signal Mountain — None
* Lookout Mountain — None
Source: City codes and ordinances
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