CURFEW CITATIONS: MESSAGE TO PARENTS

Cape Girardeau police are involved in a concerted effort to get juveniles off the streets late at night. The task is being carried out through enforcement of a city ordinance that prohibits anyone 16 or younger from being outside between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday nights through Friday mornings, and between midnight and 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturdays nights.

Since Aug. 1, police not only have been on the lookout for youngsters in violation of the curfew but have conducted sweeps of known late-night hangouts. Within an eight-day period, 22 juveniles were cited into juvenile court. Any youngster seen out without good reason can expect to join the others in court as police continue the crackdown.

The curfew law has never really been strictly enforced in Cape Girardeau. Instead, it has been used by police, when needed, to get youngsters off the streets when they are out at night for no reason or are loitering late at night in places they shouldn't be.

This month, however, police are sending the message that if you violate curfew, you will be cited into court.

Police said the curfew sweeps were prompted by numerous complaints about youths loitering and making a lot of noise at all hours of the night. Unless youths have good reason to be out late at night -- and those exceptions are specified in the ordinance -- they have no business roaming the streets. Idleness at those hours can lead to trouble. The curfew law not only is designed to keep children out of trouble but to protect them from harm.

Few parents probably realize that they are responsible if their child is in violation of the curfew law. The first time a youngster is cited for curfew violation, the parent is warned. A pattern of curfew violations can lead to parents' being issued a court summons for allowing their child to violate the curfew. That can happen after only a second violation by a youngster.

With all of the citations and police presence, the message should be clear by now. The crackdown is the police department's way of educating Cape Girardeans on the curfew law. At the same time, it is an effective means of heading off trouble among idle youths and protecting them from harm.