Chief says curfew helps, but teens need guidance

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Mobile Police Chief Micheal T. Williams says his department is keeping Metro jail in business and lately many high profile arrests have been juveniles.

Williams said some arrests, specifically those of teenagers, bring to light the need for parental guidance and also lend credence to the teen curfew passed last year.

"Since November we have made contact with more than 350 young people who were not where they were supposed to be doing stuff probably not supposed to be doing," added Williams.

He said the curfew holds parents, guardians and adults more accountable for their children. If a teen is caught out after the curfew, they are transported to the police station and must be picked up.

Mobile's nighttime curfew mandates that teens 17 and younger must be off the street by 11 p.m. on school nights, and midnight on the weekends.

The daytime curfew, which isn't in effect during the summer, says teens must be off the streets during school hours.

"The police department is not designed that when a child is born that we rear that child and monitor that child throughout his life. That is not our job," said Chief Williams.

At least one of two crimes that have resulted in the arrest of a teen, the shooting of Wendy Fisher, did not happen during curfew hours.

Trayon Washington is the second teenager charged with a violent crime this week; the 17-year-old is accused of shooting down Wendy Fisher near her Racine Avenue home Saturday.

Washington was led away from Mobile Police Headquarters after spending the night there talking to detectives. He is the second teen picked up this week by Mobile police for a violent crime.

Sunday, 16-year-old Kendall Howard was arrested and charged with attempted murder. Police said he shot another teenager.

At the time, Howard was out on bond for robbery.

Williams said his department comes into contact with juveniles every day who are possibly up to no good.

In Washington's case, he said, the teen was riding around, armed, with a group of young people, when he should have been doing something constructive.

The chief would not say if the other people in the car with Washington were juveniles as well but added that some of them have been interviewed.

Do you agree with the chief’s call for more parental guidance to help curb violent crimes?