by Shannon Curley

Philadelphia has closed more than half of its curfew centers in a move that officials say is not related to the $450+ million projected budget gap Mayor Michael Nutter announced in September. The closings went largely unnoticed. We only discovered this after after initiating a follow up to our earlier story on the curfew centers.

“The decision happened before any of the budget cuts were announced,” said James Moore Director of Policy and Evaluation for the Office of the Deputy Mayor of Health and Opportunity, which has oversight of the curfew centers. When contracts with the city’s 11 curfew center providers expired on June 30th, only four were renewed.

While the curfew center operations have been scaled back, there are no plans to change the current curfew hours. In Philadelphia, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to be out on the streets between the following hours:

Under 18:

School nights (Sun.- Thurs.): 10:30 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.

Weekends (Fri.-Sat.): 12:00 A.M. to 6:00 A.M.

Under 13:

School nights (Sun.- Thurs.): 9:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.

Weekends (Fri.-Sat.): 10:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.

The curfew centers serve as places for police to take minors found in violation of the curfew to keep the kids off the street. However, the centers proved to be costly and largely ineffective, so by August of 2008, the city was rethinking the program.

Data shows that most youth violent crime occurs right after school lets out and not late at night when the centers were open. During a July PhillyStat meeting city officials began to question whether the program was an effective use of tax dollars.

Under the original program, Philadelphia was spending more than $4 million a year on the centers.  For every curfew violator that was brought to a center, the city would spend anywhere from $400 to $1300. The cost was so high, in part, because behavioral health specialists assessed every child that was brought to the center to determine if further social services should be suggested. In most cases services were suggested, but whether or not the families ever followed through to get the services is another story.

According to Yvonne Downey, a director of a curfew center in the Northeast, under the new program the centers no longer have behavioral health specialists who assess the children. However, all of the current staffers are trained social workers who refer parents to resources in the city.

When all 11 centers were operating, the number of kids taken to each curfew centers averaged about 2 kids per week according to Joe Cronauer, the Director of Community Based Prevention Services at the Department of Human Services.

Downey says that while her numbers have not increased since the other centers closed, they are higher than the average. Her center has been one of the busiest since the program’s inception.

“We had eight this past weekend,” said Downey.

“It’s our job to make the child feel comfortable, to make them aware that they are not under arrest,” said Downey.

When the squad car brings the kids to the curfew centers, two police officers fill out reports, while staffers try to get in touch with parents. The receptionist will also call the Department of Human Services to find out if there is already a file and to determine if the child is a run away or not. While waiting to be picked up by parents, violators often play games with curfew center workers. Downey stressed that most of the curfew violators, some as young as 10, are “good, good kids” who were simply out too late.

As one parent who picked up their child from one of the centers put it: “I’d rather get a call from the curfew center than the morgue.”

See map of current and closed curfew centers

Shannon Curley is an intern for It’s Our City and is a senior at La Salle University in Philadelphia.

Related stories:

Camden NJ curfew center adds social worker

Columbus, OH closes curfew center

Corpus Christi, TX limits curfew center hours