MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – Mayor Paul Young and his administration are studying one of the nation’s strictest teen confinement programs to see if it works here in Memphis, too.
Action News 5 spoke with Mayor Young about a recent trip to Baltimore to see if what the team learned in Charm City can help curb youth violence here in the Bluff City. .
Memphis police currently do not enforce the city’s teen curfew law, but Young said he and his team were inspired by how Baltimore engages with youth after hours. Ta.
“This is being done in a way that is not necessarily punitive,” he said. “But this is an opportunity to get them off the streets. And the biggest gap in enforcing the curfew and our efforts is making sure they have a place to go.”
In Baltimore, community centers provide safe spaces and positive programs. Police can drop off young people caught after curfew at one of the centers, where the children can feel supervised but independent until an adult comes to pick them up.
Last year, rumors of an occupation of Uptown’s Greenlaw Community Center, which Memphis police use as a holding area for curfew breakers, did not go down well with residents.
However, Mayor Young said park employees and Group Violence Intervention Team members are key to Baltimore’s success and critical to all of Baltimore’s programs.
“I don’t expect any backlash,” he told Action News 5. These facilities will continue to be operated by the park, managed by the park, and will continue to be an asset to the community as they are today. ”
The Baltimore program cost $500,000.
Mayor Young’s administration is still figuring out the details.
He cited Hickory Hill and the Whitehaven Community Center as potential sites, and said the city is considering starting a teen curfew pilot program next summer.
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