It shall be unlawful for any person 17 years or less of age (under 18) to be or remain in or upon a public place within the Town of Fenwick Island during the period beginning at 1:00 a.m. and ending at 5:00 a.m.
The following shall constitute valid exceptions to the operation of this article:
A. 
Accompanied by parent: when a juvenile is accompanied by a parent of such juvenile.
B. 
Accompanied by authorized adult: when a juvenile is accompanied by an adult authorized by a parent of such juvenile to take said parent's place in accompanying said juvenile for a designated period of time and purpose within a specified area.
C. 
Errand directed by parent: when the juvenile is on an errand as directed by his/her parent.
D. 
Emergency: when a juvenile is involved in or assisting in an emergency, including, by way of example and not in limitation, responding as a member of a volunteer fire company to a fire company or paramedic call.
E. 
First Amendment rights: when a juvenile 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.
F. 
Reasonable necessity: in case of reasonable necessity for the juvenile remaining in a public place but only after the juvenile's parent has communicated to the Chief of Police or the person designated by the Chief of Police to receive such notifications the facts establishing the reasonable necessity relating to a specified public place at a designated time for a described purpose, including points of origin and destination. A copy of the communication, or of the police record thereof, duly certified by the Chief of Police to be correct, with an appropriate notation of the time it was received and of the names and addresses of the parent and juvenile, shall be admissible evidence.
G. 
On own or neighbor's property: when a juvenile is on the sidewalk or property where the juvenile resides or on either side of or across the street from the place where the juvenile resides and the adult owner or resident of that property has given permission for the juvenile to be there.
H. 
Attending and returning home within one hour of official activity: when a juvenile is attending or is returning home by a direct route (without any unnecessary stop or detour) from and within one hour of any religious, recreational or other organized activity supervised by adults, sponsored by the Town, a recognized charitable, benevolent or civic association or a similar entity that takes responsibility for the minor.
I. 
Employment necessity: when the juvenile is legally employed, going to or returning home from employment.
J. 
Interstate or intrastate travel: when the juvenile is, with parental consent, in a motor vehicle, engaged in normal interstate or intrastate travel through the Town or originating or terminating in the Town.
K. 
Married: when the juvenile is married or has been married pursuant to state law.
A. 
The foregoing exceptions to the operation of this article shall act only to create a waiver of enforcement and affirmative defense(s) to such enforcement. By authorizing such exceptions, neither the Town nor any member of the Police Department shall assume any affirmative obligation or duty to supervise the well-being of any juvenile acting pursuant to such authorized exception.
B. 
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 remain in any Town public place under circumstances not constituting an exception to, or otherwise beyond the scope of, this article. The term "knowingly" includes knowledge that a parent should reasonably be expected to have concerning the whereabouts of a juvenile in that parent's legal custody. This requirement is intended to hold a neglectful or careless parent 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.
C. 
It shall be unlawful for any parent to "knowingly" (as defined by this chapter) provide any false authorization, information or certification, written or verbal, to the Town Police Department in order to obtain an exception to the operation of this article under § 77-12 hereof.
A. 
If a police officer reasonably believes that a juvenile is in a public place in violation of this article, the officer shall require the juvenile to provide his or her name, address and telephone number and how to contact his or her parent or guardian. No juvenile shall be issued a citation or taken into custody for a violation of this article unless the police officer first affords that minor an opportunity to explain his or her conduct. In determining the age of the juvenile and in the absence of convincing evidence such as a birth certificate or driver's license, a police officer shall use his or her best judgment in determining age.
B. 
If the police officer reasonably concludes that the juvenile is in violation of this article, the officer may, depending upon the circumstances (e.g., age of the juvenile, hour of night, juvenile's means of transportation, juvenile's physical condition and whether parents could be reached), take the juvenile into custody pursuant to 10 Del. C. § 1004 or issue the juvenile a citation charging him or her with a violation of this article and order the juvenile to go promptly home. If the juvenile is issued a citation, the Chief of Police shall send the parent or guardian of the juvenile written notice of the violation as set out in Subsection E hereof.
C. 
Notwithstanding § 77-15B of this article, when a police officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the juvenile has engaged in delinquent conduct, the 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 the parent or guardian and the juvenile 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.
D. 
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 or guardian.
E. 
In the case of a first violation of this article by a juvenile, the Chief of Police shall cause notice to be given to the parent of such minor. Such notice shall be given by either personal delivery thereof to the parent or by deposit of such notice in the United States mail in an envelope with postage prepaid addressed to such parent at his or her address as shown by records of the Police Department, including information obtained from the appropriate state records and/or any other identifying means. The giving of notice by mail is complete upon the expiration of four days after such deposit of such notice. Proof of the giving of notice by personal delivery or by mail may be made by the certificate of any officer or employee of the Police Department or by affidavit of any person over the age of 18 years naming the person to whom such notice was given and specifying the time, place and manner of the giving of such notice. Such notice shall contain a warning that any subsequent violation of this article by the minor will result in full enforcement of this article, including enforcement of parental responsibility and of applicable penalties.
A. 
Parents.
(1) 
If, after the warning notice given pursuant to § 77-15 of a first violation by a juvenile, a parent violates § 77-12 (in connection with a second violation by the juvenile), this shall be treated as a first offense by the parent. Any parent convicted of violating § 77-12 shall pay a fine of $200.
(2) 
The parent or legal guardian having custody of a juvenile subject to this article shall be liable for all costs incurred by the Town for providing personnel to remain in the company of a juvenile who has been detained as a curfew violator if the parent or guardian does not pick up the juvenile within one hour after receiving notice from the Town that the Town is detaining the juvenile for a curfew violation. The amount to be paid by the parent or guardian shall be based on the hourly wage of the Town employee who is assigned to remain with the juvenile, plus the cost of benefits for that employee.
(3) 
The parent or legal guardian having custody of a juvenile subject to this article shall be liable for any fine or condition of restitution or reparation imposed by a court upon a curfew violator, provided that the curfew violator has not paid the fine or made restitution or reparation within the time ordered by the court, and further provided that the parent or legal guardian has been made a party defendant in all enforcement proceedings against the curfew violator and shall be served with all citations, summons, complaints, notices and other documents required to be served on the curfew violator defendant.
B. 
False certification. Any parent convicted of knowingly providing any false authorization, information or certification, written or verbal, to the Town Police Department in violation of § 77-14 shall pay a fine of $200.
The Council intends that this article be held inapplicable in such cases, if any, where its application would be unconstitutional under the Constitution of the State of Delaware or the Constitution of the United States of America.