After a weekend that saw 20 juveniles arrested for alleged fireworks offenses in Navy Yard, Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the District’s toughened youth curfew into law.
The new summer curfew, which Ms. Bowser said was “temporary,” requires youths off the streets city-wide at 11 p.m. and 8 p.m. in certain designated zones.
The curfew now applies to those 17 years old and younger. The previous cut-off was 16 years old.
A 12-year-old was the youngest suspect arrested for fireworks possession and use in Navy Yard.
“I feel very strongly that we need the juvenile curfew law. It’s modeled on what has worked with us with targeted drug enforcement zones,” Ms. Bowser said.
The mayor also said that “everybody is interested in more parental accountability … the value of saying to a parent, ‘You should know where your kid is,’ and that, ‘You’re responsible for their negative actions.’ I’m sure that there’s some law we can pass, but some of that is values.”
The Metropolitan Police Department said that it arrested 15 juveniles in Navy Yard on the Fourth of July and another five on Saturday for possession of and setting off fireworks. In total, police recovered 400 fireworks in Navy Yard over the course of the holiday weekend.
“These fireworks are getting launched off into the air, hitting the buildings. I started hearing that people were launching fireworks into the lobbies of nearby buildings, so it started getting dangerous,” Navy Yard resident Christopher Reyes said on WJLA-TV.
The use of fireworks that launch and then explode is illegal in the District.
