[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Wilkinsburg 5-25-1994 as Ord. No. 2458. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
For the purpose of this Curfew Chapter, the
following terms, phrases and words and their derivation shall have
the meanings given herein:
The Borough of Wilkinsburg, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania,
with administrative offices at 605 Ross Avenue, Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania
15221.
Any person under the age of eighteen (18), or, in equivalent
phrasing often herein employed, any person seventeen (17) or fewer
years of age.
Any person having legal custody of a minor:
To stay behind, to tarry and to stay unnecessarily upon the
streets, including congregating in groups (or of interacting minors)
totaling four (4) or more persons, in which any minor involved would
not be using the streets for ordinary or serious purposes, such as
mere passage or going home.
A way or place, of whatever nature, open to the use of the
public for purposes of vehicular travel, or, in the case of a sidewalk
thereof, for pedestrian travel. The term "street" includes a legal
right-of-way, including but not limited to the cartway of traffic
lanes, the curb, the sidewalks, whether paved or unpaved, and any
grass plots or other grounds found within the legal right-of-way of
a street. The term "street" also applies, for curfew purposes, to
ways the public is privileged to use over private property, so long
as the owner permits, including sidewalks and grass plots similarly
open at the time to public use, and to parking areas of any type (residential,
municipal or commercial) open to public use or from such street or
any type of street. The term "street" applies irrespective of what
it is called or formally named, whether alley, avenue, court, road
or otherwise, or whether it is maintained by the borough, and irrespective
of whether it is open to the use of the public as a matter of right.
Based upon the prevailing standard of time, whether Eastern
standard time or Eastern standard daylight saving time, generally
observed at that hour by the public in the borough, prima facie at
the time when observed in the borough administrative offices and police
station.
Continues from one birthday, such as the 17th, to (but not
including the day of) the next, such as the 18th birthday, making
it clear that seventeen (17) or fewer years of age is herein treated
as equivalent to the phrase "under eighteen (18) years of age."
It shall be unlawful for any person seventeen
(17) or fewer years of age [under age eighteen (18)] to be or remain
in or upon the streets, alleys, parks, athletic fields, business places
or any other public places within the Borough of Wilkinsburg between
the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the following day, except that
on Fridays and Saturdays the hours shall be from 11:30 p.m. to 6:00
a.m. the following days.
In the following exceptional cases, a minor on the street within the borough during the nocturnal hours, for which § 131-2 is intended to provide the maximum limits of regulation and a clear general guide for minors, their parents or custodian, and their fellow citizens, shall not, however, be considered in violation of the curfew chapter:
A.
When such minor is accompanied by a parent, guardian
or other person having legal custody of such minor.
B.
When accompanied by an adult authorized by a parent
of such minor to take said parent's place in accompanying said minor
for a designated period of time and purpose within a specified area.
C.
When such minor is going directly home from a school,
church or borough-sponsored activity.
D.
When such minor is engaged in gainful lawful employment
during the curfew hours or is traveling to or from such employment.
It shall be unlawful for a person having legal
custody of a minor knowingly to permit or, by insufficient control,
to allow such minor to be or remain upon any street within the borough
under circumstances not constituting an exception to or otherwise
beyond the scope of the curfew ordinance. The term "knowingly" includes
knowledge which a person should reasonably be expected to have concerning
the whereabouts of a minor in that person's legal custody. It is intended
to continue to keep neglectful or careless parents or custodians up
to a reasonable community standard of parental responsibility through
an objective test. It shall be no defense that a parent or custodian
was completely indifferent to the activities or conduct or whereabouts
of such minor.
A.
A police officer of the Borough, upon finding or having
attention called to any minor on the streets in violation of this
chapter, normally shall take the minor to the Borough police station,
where a parent or custodian shall immediately be notified to come
for such minor, whereupon they shall be questioned. This is intended
to permit ascertainment, under constitutional safeguards, of relevant
facts and to centralize responsibility in the shift commander there
and then on duty, for accurate, effective, fair, impartial and uniform
enforcement in recording, thus making available experienced supervisory
personnel, the best of facilities and access to information and records.
In the absence of convincing evidence, such as a driver's license,
police officers on the street shall, in the first instance, use their
best judgment in determining age.
B.
Police procedures may constantly be refined in the
light of experience and may provide that the police officer may deliver
to a parent or custodian a minor under appropriate circumstances,
for example, a minor of tender age near home whose identity and address
may readily be ascertained or are known.
C.
In any event, such police officer shall, within 24
hours, file a written report with the Chief of Police, or shall participate,
to the extent that the information for which the officer is responsible,
in the preparation, by the officer and the shift commander involved
in such case, and in the filing of such report within 24 hours.
D.
When a parent or custodian, immediately called, has
come to take charge of the minor, and the appropriate information
has been recorded, the minor shall be released to the custody of such
parent or custodian. If the parent or custodian cannot be located
or fails to take charge of the minor, then the minor shall be released
to the juvenile authorities, except to the extent that, in accordance
with police regulations, approved in advance by juvenile authorities,
the minor may temporarily be entrusted to a relative, neighbor or
other person who will, on behalf of the parent or custodian, assume
the responsibility of caring for the minor pending the availability
or arrival of a parent or custodian.
A.
Any person
or persons violating the provisions of this chapter, minor or parent
(or custodian), shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay
a fine not exceeding $25 and costs.
B.
The Borough
may institute proceedings under this section by the issuance of a
"notice of violation letter," assessing a civil penalty ranging from
$10 to $1,000 for each offense, and provide the parties in violation
of said Code section the opportunity to abate the violation and pay
said civil penalty in lieu of the institution of proceedings and the
imposition of the other stated penalties set forth herein.
[Added 5-9-2012 by Ord. No. 2892]
Each violation of the provisions of this chapter
shall constitute a separate offense. Any minor who shall violate any
of the provisions of this chapter more than three times shall be reported
by the Police Department to the appropriate juvenile authorities.
