BY BILL KIRBY JR. | CityView columnist
Not every juvenile in this city is a delinquent.
Anyone with any measure of common sense knows that and will tell you so.
But you can’t deny that some of our juveniles under the age of 18 are delinquents who have run afoul of the law. That’s why the Fayetteville City Council on Monday is scheduled to consider a youth protection ordinance, otherwise known as a juvenile curfew, to address a recent wave of crimes committed by minors.
“We understand this is a tool,” Kemberle Braden, the Fayetteville police chief, told the council Tuesday at a work session in City Hall. “It’s not going to solve all the problems.”
But a curfew for those under age 18, most council members agree, is a start.
“Let’s be honest: Kids, teens should not be out, especially on a weekday, at midnight,” Councilwoman Courtney Banks-McLaughlin said. “Not even at 11 p.m. They should be at home asleep, preparing for school the next day.”
Discussion could have ended with the councilwoman’s words alone.
Young people, ages 17 and under, have no business roaming neighborhoods or other city streets, unless accompanied by a parent or responsible adult or with a viable reason. They have no business with a gun. They have no business with a knife. They have no business with drugs. And they have no business breaking into someone’s vehicle.
And let us say this again: They have no business with a gun.
The preponderance of teenagers under age 18 are in their homes, and where they should be. But not all of our teenagers 17 and younger are where they should be.
“We know that recently we had a group of nine juveniles who were arrested on an array of charges in relation to motor vehicle break-ins and thefts, and we realized that juveniles play a significant part in those motor vehicle thefts across our city,” the 49-year-old police chief told the council. “So, I understand that this is not going to be a one tool that fixes all of the crime problems as they relate to juveniles within our community. But it is a tool that would give us access to inquire as to what these kids are doing out when they’re out at 1 in the morning or out at 2 in the morning walking some of these apartment complexes in these neighborhoods that have been plagued with some of these crimes.”
The curfew proposal, Fayetteville Police Department attorney Michael Whyte told the council, prohibits anyone under age 18 from being in public from midnight to 5 a.m. on weekdays and from 1 to 5 a.m. on weekends. A curfew for minors under the age of 16 is from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. The proposal, Whyte said, is patterned after a countywide curfew adopted by Cumberland County. Exceptions to the proposed curfew, Whyte said, is if a juvenile is with a parent or guardian, on their way to or from an employment venue, or in an emergency.
Parents of juveniles who are in violation of the proposed curfew, the police chief said, will be notified and asked to pick up their teenagers in person. If a police officer cannot locate a parent or responsible guardian, violators will remain in “the custody and care” of police until released to the custody of the Cumberland County Department of Social Services. No violator, Braden said, will be arrested or jailed just for being questioned about violating the curfew per se.
“Raising a young man in any city and in any place in the United States in 2014 is a completely different ball game than it is in 2023,” Councilwoman Kathy Keefe Jensen said. “And as a mom sitting here, I do not see how I cannot support this. I just really believe that we are in a different time right now and we need to all be hands on deck.”
Two councilmen question a curfew
Freshman Councilman Mario Benavente peppered the police chief with one question after another, saying that the curfew would lead to unwarranted stops of juveniles. A lawyer, Benavente also wanted to know if the chief had statistics on city offenses related to juveniles. Benavente was critical of the chief for not reaching out to the Department of Social Services and often was curt in responses to Braden, who said he only is basing the curfew proposal on his “real world” experience of recent months.
Freshman Councilman Deno Hondros also questioned the curfew proposal, noting that as a 17-year-old he worked late at night and then spent time at a local gym that was open 24 hours, and he would not return home until 2:30 in the morning.
“I just think of me in a younger, previous time,” Hondros told the chief. “I’m not going to be the happiest person with that officer.”
Hondros, however, was having second thoughts Thursday about his position concerning the curfew.
Allow me, if you will, to take you back to the beginning in this little matter involving city crime as it relates to those under the age of 18. Let us be absolutely clear: Not every juvenile in this city is a delinquent. But you can’t deny that some of our juveniles under the age of 18 are delinquents who have run afoul of the law.
Here are the juvenile crime statistics, as told by Police Chief Braden, to the City Council on Aug. 28 in his second-quarter crime report, which included juvenile crime.
- Two juveniles charged with murder.
- Eight charged with attempted murder.
- 25 charged with assault inflicting serious injury.
- 94 charged with assault.
- 11 charged with shooting into occupied property.
- Five assaults on law enforcement officers.
- 28 charged with resisting a government official.
- 11 speeding violations to elude arrest.
- 94 drug violations.
- 54 weapons violations.
Two juveniles received non-life-threatening gunshot wounds the same week the police chief gave his second-quarter crime report to the City Council. And on Wednesday, a seven-hour standoff involving two juveniles at a convenience store in Robeson County led to the arrest of those two juveniles, according to a published report, and one was a 15-year-old wanted for first-degree murder in Fayetteville.
“For all those who have doubts or concerns or second thoughts, just take note that if nothing changes, nothing changes,” freshman Councilman Derrick Thompson told his council colleagues. “So, we need to do something to make sure we’re keeping our youth protected and crime-free.”
‘We need to do something’
Demetria Murphy is not a member of the City Council, but she sat in the audience Tuesday and listened to what the police chief had to say about juvenile crime.
“I believe that we as a community need to try something,” Murphy, 44, later told CityView. “No, this is not a simple fix. There are several layers to gun violence. This one tool is focused on the youth and mitigating violence. If we are being honest, no child under the age of 18 should be out at 12, 1, 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. The curfew is not to address those children who are at home safe, preparing for their next school day or sleeping in their bed. This is to address those who are standing on the streets, the corner, committing adult offenses, with access to guns and gang involvement.
“Be clear that no one is saying that all parents are bad or neglectful, but if we are honest, some simply are. We are in a real pandemic when we look at gun violence. This is an issue that is plaguing the world, not just Fayetteville. Yes, we need to do something to address this crisis. As the chief stated, this is not a fix. It’s a means of help.
“By all means, as a parent, why would you not know where your child is at?” Murphy says. “To turn this into a racial war is crazy. However, if we look at who is impacted by gun violence, more of it is Black and brown children. Black kids are losing their lives at a higher rate than white kids or any other race.”
Murphy acknowledges that the proposed curfew is not what she describes as a “rite of passage” for police to stop juveniles simply because they might appear as curfew violators. Instead, she says, police can use the curfew as a means to contact a parent whose child has “snuck out of a home and the parent is unaware; identify a child who may be homeless or a runaway; determine if a parent is neglectful; if a child is facing domestic issues in the home; if there is a substance abuse issue in the home; or if a parent is in need of help with raising his or her child.
“There can be an array of things that we can gather from this curfew,” Murphy says. “Unfortunately, if no parent wants to come get the child, DSS is the result. If this becomes a repeat thing, then yes, parental accountability is needed. There is a problem, and yes, you need to answer for it.”
Not only is Murphy passionate in her support of the proposed curfew, but she says she is chief executive officer of the Youth Diverse Intervention Group that reached out to young people during the COVID health pandemic by providing hot meals, tutoring, mentoring and group meetings every other Sunday to help young people address real-life situations and learn to navigate society. The group, Murphy says, helps youths find employment. She also is co-founder of Heal the Ville.
“There are a lot of issues that we as a Black community need to address,” Murphy says, adding that people are “turning blind eyes to situations until these situations hit our doorstep. Then, it becomes important. Gun violence should not have to hit your doorstep to matter.”
Murphy offers a case in point about the Wednesday standoff in Robeson County that resulted in the arrest of a second juvenile, age 15, who was charged Monday in the standoff with Robeson County law enforcement at a convenience store.
“There is a 15-year-old coming to the Cumberland County jail to face a murder charge,” Murphy says, “along with the new charges he has received for the standoff.”
That 15-year-old was arrested and charged, according to a Fayetteville Police news release Friday, in the July 17 murder of Danielle Claire Golcher. He is one of two juveniles, according to the release, facing a first-degree murder charge in the early-morning shooting death of Danielle Claire Golcher, 19, of Hope Mills, at a Valero gas station and convenience store on Bragg Boulevard. Both juveniles, according to the release, are being held at the N.C. Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
“If no one sees these issues as problems,” Murphy says, “that is a problem.”
Epilogue
No, not every juvenile in this city is a delinquent. But you can’t deny that some of our juveniles under the age of 18 are delinquents who have run afoul of the law, and the police chief’s second-quarter crime report shows numbers that are evidence enough.
If you are not convinced by the police chief’s numbers on juvenile crime, perhaps you may consider the words of Susan Golcher, the mother of Danielle Claire Golcher at her 19-year-old daughter’s funeral on July 28 at Crystal Springs Chapel, where Danielle Claire Golcher was remembered for her love of animals, her athletic talent on a softball field, her infectious laugh and her of love of life.
“Dear Dani,” Susan Golcher wanted her daughter to know. “I love you. I want you to know I couldn’t have had a better daughter. I know you love me so much. I wanted you to have the best life possible. I love you with all my heart, and I will never stop loving you, Dani.”
Or perhaps the words of Demetria Murphy.
“In my opinion, if you ask a mother or father who has had to bury a child how they feel and if they are for a curfew,” Murphy says, “I think they just might say yes to spare another parent the feelings they live with every day.”
Or perhaps the words of Councilwoman Courtney Banks-McLaughlin, who on Tuesday referenced the Oct. 21, 2022, accidental shooting death of her 15-year-old daughter, who was a sophomore at Seventy-First High School.
“We may face some hiccups, but it’s a start,” the councilwoman would tell her fellow City Council members before emotionally choking back her words. “As a mother who lost a daughter, for a mother who lost a child, I wouldn’t wish this on nobody, and if it takes 10 kids to sit inside DSS, I would rather see that than to see a parent have to bury their children, their child.”
Or the words of Councilman Derrick Thompson.
“For all those who have doubts or concerns or second thoughts, just take note that if nothing changes,” Thompson said, “nothing changes.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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