The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning. Words used in the
present tense include the future, words in the plural number include
the singular, and words in the singular number include the plural.
The term "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
JUVENILE and MINOR
Any person under the age of 17 or, in equivalent phrasing
often employed in this chapter, any person 16 or less years of age.
PARENT
Any person having legal custody of a juvenile:
A.
As a natural or adoptive parent;
C.
As a person who stands in loco parentis; or
D.
As a person to whom legal custody has been given by order of
court.
PUBLIC PLACE
Any place to which the public has access, including but not
limited to a public street, road, thoroughfare, sidewalk, bridge,
alley, plaza, park, recreation or shopping area, public transportation
facility, vehicle used for public transportation, parking lot or any
other public building, structure or area.
REMAIN
To stay behind, to tarry and to stay unnecessarily upon any
public place, including the congregating of groups (or of interacting
minors) totaling four or more persons in which any juvenile involved
would not be using the public places for ordinary or serious purposes
such as mere passage or going home or shopping or engaging is specific
Township-, school- or church-sponsored activities. To implement that
thought with additional precision and precaution, numerous exceptions
are expressly defined in the ordinance from which this chapter is
derived so that it is not a mere prohibit- or presence-type curfew
ordinance. More and more exceptions become available with increasing
years and advancing maturity as appropriate in the interest of reasonable
regulation.
TIME OF NIGHT
Is based upon the prevailing standard of time, whether Eastern
standard time or Eastern daylight saving time, generally observed
at that hour by the public in the Township, prima facie the time then
observed in the Township administrative offices and police station.
YEARS OF AGE
Continues from one birthday, such as the 16th to (but not
including the day of) the next, such as the 17th birthday, making
it clear that 16 or less years is treated as equivalent to the phrase
"under 17 years of age."
It shall be unlawful for any person under 17 years of age to
be or remain in or upon the public places within the Township of Willingboro
at night during the period ending at 5:00 a.m. and beginning at:
A. On Friday and Saturday night: 11:59 p.m.;
B. On October 30 of each year: 9:00 p.m.;
C. On October 31 of each year: 9:00 p.m.; and
D. On all other nights: 10:00 p.m.
It shall be unlawful for a parent having legal custody of a
juvenile knowingly to permit or by inefficient control to allow the
juvenile to be or remain upon any public place under circumstances
not constituting an exception to, or otherwise beyond the scope of,
the curfew. The term "knowingly" includes knowledge which a parent
should reasonably be expected to have concerning the whereabouts of
a juvenile in that parent's legal custody. It is intended to
continue to keep neglectful or careless parents up to a reasonable
community standard of parental responsibility through an objective
test. It shall, therefore, be no defense that a parent was completely
indifferent to the activities or conduct or whereabouts of such juvenile.
A. Police procedures shall constantly be refined in the light of experience
and may provide that the police officer may deliver to a parent or
guardian thereof a juvenile under appropriate circumstances, for example,
a juvenile of tender age near home whose identity and address may
readily be ascertained or are known.
B. In any event, the police officer shall, within 24 hours, file a written
report with the Director of Public Safety or shall participate to
the extent of the information for which he is responsible in the preparation
of a report on the curfew violation. It is not the intention of this
section to require existence reports that will prevent police officers
from performing their primary police duties. The reports shall be
as simple as is reasonably possible and may be completed by Police
Department personnel other than sworn police officers.
C. When a parent or guardian, immediately called, has come to take charge
of the juvenile, and the appropriate information has been recorded,
the juvenile shall be released to the custody of such parent. If the
parent cannot be located or fails to take charge of the juvenile,
then the juvenile shall be released to the juvenile authorities, except
to the extent that, in accordance with police regulations, approved
in advance by juvenile authorities, the juvenile may temporarily be
entrusted to an adult, neighbor or other person who will, on behalf
of a parent or guardian, assume the responsibility of caring for the
juvenile pending the availability or arrival of a parent of guardian.
D. In the case of a first violation by a juvenile, the Director of Public
Safety shall, by certified mail, send to a parent or guardian written
notice of the violation, with a warning that any subsequent violation
will result in full enforcement of this chapter, including enforcement
of parental responsibility and of applicable penalties.
If a police officer reasonably believes that a juvenile is upon
the public place in violation of the curfew, the officer shall notify
the juvenile that the juvenile is in violation of the curfew and shall
require the juvenile to provide the juvenile's name, address
and telephone number and how to contact the juvenile's parent
or guardian. In determining the age of the juvenile and in the absence
of convincing evidence such as a birth certificate, a police officer
shall, in the first instance, use the officer's best judgment
in determining age. The normal procedure shall then be to take the
juvenile to the police station where a parent or guardian shall immediately
be notified to come for the juvenile, whereupon they shall be questioned.
This is intended to permit ascertainment, under constitutional safeguards,
of relevant facts and to centralize responsibility in the person designated
there and then on duty for accurate, effective, fair, impartial and
uniform enforcement and recording, thus making available experienced
personnel and access to information and records.
[Amended 11-21-2000 by Ord. No. 2000-4; 10-2-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-6]
A. Community service. Any person, juvenile or adult convicted of a violation
of this chapter shall be required to perform community service as
directed by the court. As provided in N.J.S.A. 40:48-2.52, whenever
both a juvenile and the juvenile's parent or guardian violate
this chapter, they shall be required to perform community service
together.
B. Fines. Any juvenile convicted of a violation of this chapter shall be subject to a fine of $50 for a first offense, $100 for a second offense and not less than $150 nor more than $1,000 for any third or subsequent offense. Any parent or guardian convicted of a violation, after the warning notice pursuant to §
132-5 of a first violation by a juvenile, shall be fined $50, and for a second offense by a parent or guardian, the fine shall be $100. For any subsequent offense by a parent, the fine shall be not less than $150 and not more than $1,000.