Attention parents and teenagers of Newark: That new curfew we’ve been talking about? It starts tonight.
The curfew initially was supposed to take effect three weeks ago, but the mayor’s office abruptly postponed the launch for unknown reasons. The program taking effect Friday is a sort of soft launch.
The nightly curfew for kids under 18 — 11 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. the next morning — will only apply Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, to start, officials said.
Come June 21, once school is out for the summer, the curfew will be in effect seven days a week. Kids have to be within 100 yards of their homes through those six-and-a-half hours.
Newark police who see kids unaccompanied by an adult on the streets in that time period will “peacefully engage the youth,” get personal information to include in a report and call the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery (OVPTR) team. The officer will wait with the child until an outreach worker arrives.
If a …