By Robert Andre Emmanuel
“Exceptions” will be included in the government’s proposal for a night-time curfew on juveniles aged below 18 years, Minister of Information Melford Nicholas said yesterday.
The government plans to pass legislation at the next sitting of Parliament to institute a limited curfew in the hopes that it will curb youth gang activity.
The law, when enacted, will declare as unlawful any youth unaccompanied by a parent/guardian outside of his or her home on the streets from 10pm until 5am.
The government said that several exceptions will be built into the law including utilising a system of curfew passes to ensure exceptions are given to youth involved in work, education or positive extracurricular activities.
“The intent is not to have [the curfew] ad infinitum, but for as long as it takes to curb this anti-social behaviour, so in the initial phase, we expect it to be open-ended, but it’s a measure that’s going be applied and once we see corrective actions taking place then, of course, that will be relaxed,” he said.
The minister said that the government will likely employ similar curfew passes to those used during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The government is mindful that what we want to engender is positive social engagement of our young people, and so persons who are involved in extra classes like steel band or dance classes . . .
“Those are positive social activities that we [want to] encourage and we would not want the curfew to expunge, so clearly if they’re going to be doing that, there will be opportunities for them to get registered and to have a curfew pass,” he explained.
Although the government has announced a number of legislative proposals to help address the situation, the minister said it may take at least two or three weeks before Parliament can convene, however, given the urgency of the situation, there is a possibility that Parliament may be convened earlier to expedite the process.
Concerns have been raised about the enforcement of the curfew, given the current strain on police resources which the minister acknowledged could be a challenge.
“We know that the police forces are stretched, they just had a [graduating cohort] of 140 police officers, but we are dealing with an area of flux in the police service, meaning that notwithstanding that we have added 140, it doesn’t mean that the force has increased its size.
“It means that we are back-filling for persons who took an early retirement from the force or reached the end of their service period,” the minister said.
Minister Nicholas said that it was unclear whether the government would include in the new curfew bill similar provisions used via the Public Health Act for police officers to request support from the Defence Force.
Government officials are hoping that the legislative and policy action will eventually lead to the eradication of youth gangs in Antigua.
According to the minister, their activities have seemingly become embedded in the school system, with the 2Drilly Gang and another gang— the Gray’s Farm Killers – “at war with one another.”
The minister emphasised that the government will not permit these gangs to disrupt the peace and safety of schools.
