The Baltimore Curfew

Aside from chasing down murderers, crack whores and drug dealers, Baltimore Police will soon be tasked with enforcing a youth curfew around the city. Starting in August, kids under the age of 14 will be required to be indoors by 9 pm each night. And 14-16 year-olds will be able to stay out until 10 on school nights and 11 on the weekends.

The curfew is supposed to help keep the kiddies safe in one of the country's most dangerous cities. There's obviously some truth to that claim. After all, stray bullets fly through the streets of Baltimore like mosquitoes on a stagnant mud puddle. If the kids are inside, there are less likely to have their life cut short by a drug deal gone bad.

On the other hand, these "innocent" kids are often the very ones responsible for wreaking havoc around the city. I have personally witnessed gangs of roving youths in the tourist areas of Baltimore. Although I didn't stop them for an interview, my gut feeling was that they were up to no good. We have also seen the videos of the "flash mobs" looting urban convenience stores. These mobs are mostly made up of teenagers. And has anyone ever experienced the dirt bike kids weaving in and out of traffic and doing wheelies down Pratt Street? Of course, the police are discouraged from chasing these inconsiderate assholes, so they continue to use the city as if it was their own personal "off-road" bike trail.

Let me cut right to the chase. The reason these kids are getting into mischief and running the streets of Baltimore at all hours of the night is because the parents are worthless. Because these so-called parents won't be responsible and actually parent, the job is now going to fall to the police and youth counselors. The City That Breeds continues to produce countless children who ultimately are raised, not by the mother and baby-daddy, but by the streets. Until the parents put down the crack pipe and start acting like responsible adults, this trend likely will continue.

So, how exactly will a curfew fix this? I honestly don't know. The parents will possibly face a $500 fine for their kid's curfew violations. Good luck trying to collect that money! Family counseling will also be offered for violators. Sorry for being skeptical, but I don't see a whole lot of positive outcome here either. If you haven't accepted the responsibility of parenthood by the time your kid is 14, I really don't think a few counseling sessions from Big Brother is going to change anything.

All this curfew will likely do is tie up city police, who are already short-staffed and over-worked. Will the police be expected to "card" every kid on the street after 10 pm? How many kids carry ID cards? More money, time and resources will be wasted for a program that will be almost impossible to enforce. But in yet another attempt to bullshit us into believing that steps are being taken to make the city safer, the curfew will go on.

And you know it's only a matter of time before a boatload of harassment charges are thrown at the police for trying to round up these juvenile delinquents. Instead of the parents putting a foot up the kids ass they'll blame the police for "pickin' on their babies". Remember the infamous skateboard incident at the Inner Harbor a few years ago? This curfew will undoubtedly set the cops up for a no-win situation.

Politicians are always telling us that "it's all about the kids". In this case, it's all about the parents......

kw