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The police state has not arrived quite yet but it may feel like it to the residents of some American cities, where a handful of embattled mayors and police chiefs are imposing strict and sometimes sweeping curfews as a last resort to quell new waves of gun violence this northern summer.
"We must do this because we cannot and will not tolerate innocent people, especially children, to be victims," insists Eddie Perez, the Mayor of Hartford, the capital of Connecticut, where a night-time curfew was introduced last week for a month for under-18s.
In Helena-West Helena on the banks of the Mississippi in Arkansas, small pockets are under a 24-hour curfew that all ages must respect. Police are enforcing it, moreover, with night-vision goggles and M16 military rifles.
In Hartford the approach is not quite as militaristic. Children found on the streets between 9pm and 5am are escorted by officers to their homes. Most nights since the curfew came into effect last Friday have seen only a dozen or so picked up.
But there was nothing softly-softly about the violence that prompted Hartford to take such action. Two weekends ago, 11 people were shot in three different attacks, the worst at the annual West Indian Parade which left one man dead and two children hurt. A toddler in a pushchair was grazed by a bullet on her leg. A 7-year-old boy remains in hospital with serious head wounds. The city has recorded 150 shootings this year.
In summer, bored teenagers have little to do but wander the streets. Gangs mark out turf. Insults are traded and revenge is taken. The man killed at the parade, Ezekial Roberts, had been running with gangs.
While curfews sound like they belong in war zones or natural disaster areas, they have long been a popular tool of United States police departments. For the duration of the school holidays this year Baltimore has an 11pm curfew (midnight on Fridays and Saturdays) for children under 17. Those who violate it are taken to a school until a parent or guardian picks them up.
It is a trend the American Civil Liberties Union does not welcome. The group "opposes juvenile curfews because they're essentially a violation of fundamental rights of innocent people", said David McGuire of the Connecticut ACLU.
- INDEPENDENT
