SEAFORD, De. - The Seaford City Council is in the early stages of discussing a youth curfew. Seaford Police Chief Marshall Craft noted that the city has never had a youth curfew, but he believes it is needed now more than ever.
The proposed curfew would apply to individuals 17 and younger, from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day.
"This curfew will prevent youth from getting into mischief," Craft said.
"There are trends that show juveniles loitering in groups late at night tend to get involved in criminal activity. In fact, on our current liaison report, you'll see right at the top an update from the vape shop burglaries that occurred. Several burglaries occurred earlier this year. Fingerprints just came back identifying two juveniles, and those events occurred between 3 and 4 in the morning," Craft added.
However, not everyone is convinced. Donna Ward believes kids will simply disregard the curfew.
"I'm not so sure if a curfew will really help. The kids that would be getting into mischief will probably still stay out late. So I'm not too sure that a curfew will help everybody," Ward said.
Seaford police point to an enforcement plan that includes officers driving a juvenile home to their parent.
Jennifer and Albert Gonzales, who have three teenagers, support the proposed curfew.
"As a parent, I would feel more safe that the kids will be inside of their homes and safe instead of outside," they said.
The potential curfew is dividing opinions in Seaford. This is just the first reading of the proposal, and no final vote is expected yet.