HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd 16241
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ORDINANCE NO. 1624
ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BURLINGAME
ADOPTING CHAPTER 10.25 — DAYTIME CURFEW FOR MINORS
The CITY COUNCIL of the CITY OF BURLINGAME does hereby ordain as follows:
Section 1.
A. The City has reviewed the statistics regarding criminal activity and juvenile crime
victims. This ordinance is intended to provide a means for the City to provide protection to minors
who may be left without or outside of parental supervision during daytime hours.
B. California law requires that minors be in school generally during the hours of 8 a.m. and
3 p.m. during the week.
C. As with labor laws governing employment of minors, this narrowly drafted ordinance
will allow minors to undertake necessary activities, while ensuring they are safe.
D. This ordinance allows parents the right to appropriately supervise and guide their
children, while ensuring that the vast majority ofparents' concerns about their children's safety are
addressed by complementary government assistance. In addition, many homes have single parents
or both parents working, making supervision more difficult. Law enforcement officers will be able
to verify that children have legitimate business during daytime hours when a minor is expected to
be in a school, and that they have the permission of their parents or guardians to be out and about.
E. A curfew ordinance also provides an effective weapon in combating juvenile crime.
This ordinance establishes hours when minors are not expected to be present in residential and
commercial neighborhoods, and law enforcement can appropriately intervene when a group of
juveniles is found in a residential or commercial neighborhood during hours when they would be
expected to be in school.
F. Other cities in San Mateo County have adopted similar ordinances and have found that
juvenile crime has been reduced and a greater sense of juvenile safety has developed.
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Section 2. Chapter 10.25 is amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 10.25
DAYTliv CURFEW FOR NHNORS
10.25.010
Definitions.
10.25.020
Curfew hours.
10.25.030
Exemptions.
10.25.040
Enforcement procedures.
10.25.010 Definitions.
The following definitions shall apply to this chapter:
(a) "Emergency" means an unforeseen circumstance or circumstances or the resulting
situation that calls for immediate action to prevent serious injury, loss of life, or serious property
damage. The term includes, but is not limited to, a fire, natural disaster, or vehicle accident.
� minor.
(b) "Guardian" means:
(1) A person who is the guardian of the person of a minor pursuant to a court order;
or
(2) A public or private entity with whom a minor has been placed by a court order; or
(3) A person who is at least eighteen (18) years of age and authorized by a parent or
guardian to have the care and custody of a minor.
(c) "Minor" means a person under the age of eighteen years.
(d) "Parent" means a person who is a natural parent, adoptive parent, or step-parent of a
(e) "Public place" means:
(1) Any out-of-door area to which the public or a substantial group of the public has
access, including, but not limited to, streets, highways, sidewalks, alleys, parks,
playgrounds, or other public grounds; and
(2) The out-of-doors common areas, such as entry ways and parking lots, of businesses
to which the public is invited, including but not limited to, any place of amusement,
entert
ainment, or recreation.
(f) "School" means an elementary school, junior high school, four-year high school, senior
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high school,
opportunity
school, continuation
high school, regional occupational
center, or
technical high
school that is
either a public school
as created under the Education Code
or a private
full-time day school operating pursuant to Education Code section 48222.
10.25.020 Curfew hours.
It is unlawful for any minor under the age of seventeen (17) years to be in any public place
within the city between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except as
provided in 10.25.030 below.
10.25.030 Exemptions.
A minor shall not be in violation of Section 10.25.020 if at the time that the minor was
detained by a peace officer, the minor was:
(a) Not obligated to be in the school at which the minor may be enrolled because the school
is on holiday or vacation period; or
(b) Accompanied by the minor's parent or guardian; or
(c) Attending or going to or returning home, without unnecessary detour or stop, from a
school, religious, cultural, sports, amusement, entert
ainment, or recreation activity, or any
organized rally, demonstration, meeting, or similar activity; or
(d) Driving or riding in a motor vehicle or publicly owned transportation; or
(e) Engaged in lawful volunteer or paid employment activity, or going to or returning
home from a lawful volunteer or paid employment activity, without unnecessary
detour or stop;
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(f) Acting in response to an emergency; or
(g) On the sidewalk abutting the minor's residence or abutting the residence that is
immediately adjacent to the minor's residence; or
(h) On an errand at the direction of the minor's parent or guardian, without unnecessary
detour or stop; or
(i) Waiting at a train or bus station or stop for transportation; or
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(j)
Emancipated
in accordance with California law;
or
(k)
In possession
of written permission or a permit
from the school in which the minor is
enrolled to leave the school campus, or a written leave of absence to be away from the school; or
(� On a lunch period for which the school at which the minor maybe enrolled authorizes
absence from campus.
10.25.040 Enforcement procedures.
(a) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to preclude minors from being in a public
place for the purpose of exercising the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United
States Constitution or by the California Constitution, including the free exercise of religion,
freedom of speech, right of assembly, freedom of association, right to petition, and right to privacy
as applied by decisional law to minors of a particular age.
(b) Before taking enforcement action under this chapter, a peace officer shall ask the
apparent offender's age and reason for being in the public place.
(c) A peace officer may take enforcement action under this chapter only when the peace
officer has probable cause to believe that neither subsection (a) above nor any exemption under
Section 10.25.030 applies to the offender's reasons for being present in the public place.
Section 3. This ordinance shall be published as required by law.
Mayor
I, ANN T. MUSSO, City Clerk of the City of Burlingame, do hereby cert
ify that the
foregoing ordinance was introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the 7th day
of February, 2000, and adopted thereafter at a regular meeting of the City Council held on the
23rddayof February ,2000, by the following vote:
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AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS. COFFEY, GALLIGAN, JANNEY, SPINELLI, O'MAHONY
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: NONE
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City Clerk