The purpose of this chapter is to:
A. Promote the general welfare and protect the general public through
the reduction of juvenile violence and crime within the Borough;
B. Promote the safety and well-being of the Borough's youngest
citizens, persons under the age of 18, whose inexperience renders
them particularly vulnerable to becoming participants in unlawful
activities, particularly unlawful drug activities, and to being victimized
by older perpetrators of crime; and
C. Foster and strengthen parental responsibility for children.
As used within this chapter, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings ascribed to them below:
CURFEW HOURS
The hours of 11:00 p.m. each day through 5:00 a.m. on the
following day.
EMERGENCY
Unforeseen circumstances, or the status or condition resulting
therefrom, requiring immediate action to safeguard life, limb or property.
The term includes, but is not limited to, fires, natural disasters,
automobile accidents, or other similar circumstances.
ESTABLISHMENT
Any privately owned place of business within the Borough,
operated for a profit, to which the public is invited, including but
not limited to any place of amusement or entertainment. With respect
to such establishment, the term "operator" shall mean any person and
any firm, association, partnership (and the members or partners thereof)
and/or any corporation (and the officers thereof) conducting or managing
that establishment.
MINOR
Any person under 18 years of age who has not been emancipated
by court order.
OFFICER
A police or other law enforcement officer charged with the
duty of enforcing the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and/or
ordinances of the Borough.
PARENT
A.
A person who is a minor's biological or adoptive parent
and who has legal custody of a minor (including either parent, if
custody is shared under a court order or agreement);
B.
A person who is the biological or adoptive parent with whom
a minor regularly resides;
C.
A person judicially appointed as a legal guardian of the minor;
and/or
D.
A person 18 years of age or older standing in loco parentis (as indicated by the authorization of an individual listed in Subsections
A,
B or
C of this definition, above, for the person to assume the care or physical custody of the child, or as indicated by any other circumstances).
PERSON
An individual; not any association, corporation, or any other
legal entity.
PUBLIC PLACE
Any place to which the public or a substantial group of the
public has access, including but not limited to streets, highways,
roads, sidewalks, alleys, avenues, parks, and/or the common areas
of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transportation
facilities and shops.
REMAIN
Refers to the following actions:
A.
To linger or stay at or upon a place; and/or
B.
To fail to leave a place when requested to do so by an officer
or by the owner, operator or other person in control of that place,
and includes the congregating of groups (or of interacting minors)
totaling four or more persons in which any minor involved would not
be using the streets for emergencies or ordinary purposes such as
mere passage of going home.
TEMPORARY CARE FACILITY
A nonlocked, nonrestrictive shelter at which minors may wait,
under visual supervision, to be retrieved by a parent. No minors waiting
in such facility shall be handcuffed and/or secured (by handcuffs
or otherwise) to any stationary object.
It shall be unlawful for a minor, during curfew hours, to remain
in or upon any public place within the Borough, to remain in any motor
vehicle operating or parked therein or thereon, or to remain in or
upon the premises of any establishment within the Borough, unless:
A. The minor is accompanied by a parent; or
B. The minor is involved in an emergency; or
C. The minor is engaged in an employment activity or is going to or
returning home from such activity, without detour or stop, and has
in his or her possession a current letter certifying the same and
signed by the employer or parent; or
D. The minor is on the sidewalk directly abutting a place where he or
she resides with a parent; or
E. The minor is attending an activity sponsored by a school, religious,
or civic organization, by a public organization or agency, or by another
similar organization or entity, which activity is supervised by adults,
and/or the minor is going to or returning from such an activity, without
detour or stop; or
F. The minor is on an errand at the direction of a parent, and the minor
has in his or her possession a writing signed by the parent containing
the following information: the name, signature, address and telephone
number of the parent authorizing the errand, the telephone number
where the parent may be reached during the errand, the name of the
minor, and a brief description of the errand, the minor's destination(s)
and the hours the minor is authorized to be engaged in the errand;
or
G. The minor is involved in interstate travel through, or beginning
or terminating in, the Borough; or
H. The minor is exercising First Amendment rights protected by the United
States Constitution, such as the free exercise of religion, freedom
of speech and the right of assembly.
The police officers of the Borough of West Mifflin, in taking
minors into custody, shall use their discretion in determining age
and, in doubtful cases, may require positive proof of age. Until such
proof is furnished, the officer's judgment shall prevail.
Any person who shall violate any provision of this chapter shall,
upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than
$600, and costs, and, in default of payment of said fine and costs,
to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days.