No curfew, no problem
By LINDSAY HICKS
Cherry Hill Sun
10/12/2007

While Cherry Hill police don’t have curfew tool, they’re not worried about preventing mischief

Mischief Night could come and go this year without leaving behind many remnants of toilet paper, soap and eggs in the many neighboring towns equipped with a juvenile curfew. But while police in towns such as Evesham and Haddonfield ensure kids are off the streets by 8:30 or 10 p.m., officers of the Cherry Hill Police Department will have to seek other methods.

Lt. Bill Kushina of the CHPD said the township’s limited curfew prohibits juveniles from being in parks and on school property after dark, and he doesn’t recall the township considering a stricter ordinance. The lieutenant acknowledged an ordinance that includes public areas would likely prove a useful tool for the department, but also questioned the value of regulating juveniles in Cherry Hill.

“If you’re going around snatching up kids all weekend long, because it’s past their curfew, it’s getting away from what you really should be doing,” he said.

Still, officials in other towns have approved police-enforced curfews for reasons such as protecting residents from vandalism and juveniles from getting into trouble.

According to an ordinance passed into law by Haddonfield’s commissioners this year, kids will have to finish their Mischief Night antics by 10 p.m. in order to comply with the law that requires all juveniles leave public streets, parks, sidewalks and any other public area by the designated time.

The ordinance commissioners passed to curb a statistically significant increase in vandalism in recent years includes exceptions covering walks home from jobs and doctor’s appointments, as well as charitable, cultural, education-related, athletic, religious, entertainment and governmental events, activities or meetings that are supervised by parents.

It took almost a decade for Haddonfield to join its neighbors in establishing a curfew ordinance for public sidewalks and areas as a tool to fight crime – leaving Cherry Hill one of only a few local townships without a similar ordinance on the books.

Lt. Tim Gasparovic says the Haddonfield Police Department has been using the curfew ordinance as a tool to prevent crime and keep residents, including juveniles, safe. The officer said that although he cannot speak to the ordinance’s efficiency with statistical evidence, it appears there are less kids on the streets late.

Many other South Jersey towns passed or amended their own curfews in the late ’90s, including Voorhees, Moorestown and Marlton. The ordinances differ by ages targeted along with times regulated, particularly on Mischief Night.

Moorestown kids 16 years old and younger must off the streets by 8:30 p.m. the night before Halloween and 10 p.m. on the holiday, according to Officer Harry Johnson, the director of Moorestown Township Police Department. Voorhees youth under the age of 18 are regulated in the township’s ordinance on Mischief Night and Halloween, then under 14 years old on every other night. Evesham’s code states kids under the age of 18 cannot be on school property after 9 p.m. and public property after 10 p.m. – with no changes made for Mischief Night.

All towns have similar exceptions as Haddonfield, however, and officials agree the ordinance should not be enforced in a severe way.

Mischief Night activities could come with consequences regardless of whether the town has a curfew ordinance, however, because most fall under laws prohibiting acts of vandalism or criminal mischief. Though far from the nature of the holiday, young residents could truly rebel by sticking to carving