Mayor's curfew misses the mark

Editorial

Mayor Richard M. Daley recently sent a strong message to Chicago parents that the city's curfew will be strictly enforced, and parents need to step up and make sure their children abide by the ordinance.

In taking the time to relate the tougher curfew standards, Daley was inadvertently sending the message that crime by teens only happens at night. We all know better. We have averaged nearly one shooting or act of extreme violence per month during school hours for the last few months - at least.

Did the mayor bother to report how many crimes are committed by folk 16 and younger after the 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. curfew hours?

Practically speaking, how many cops signed up for what amounts to truancy duty - find some young folk on the street later than they're supposed to be and ticket them. Are cops going to give chase to four young kids they see standing in front of a house at midnight on Cullerton Street, or a similar group on Colfax Avenue? Given that there will be one curfew car per police district according to the mayor's announcement, how many teen offenders can be reasonably pursued and apprehended?

The idea of enforcement causes one to wonder if the curfew crackdown will be enforced equally throughout the city or will it be selectively put in place?

Will police hours be better spent patrolling and possibly averting criminal activity as opposed to trolling for teens and giving them a ticket?

Daley also noted there are thousands of programs in parks, schools and libraries to keep our young people occupied. Undoubtedly, these are the same programs that failed to garner young folk's interest previously. So why hold them up now as some sort of recreational panacea?

Some of the mayor's suggestions for procurfew, anti-crime activities are laughable, such as a program for children entering kindergarten. Has the city experienced a rash of crime by toddlers after 10:30 on week nights? Chicago Housing Authority day camps and other summer camps don't address the issue of night time crime by teens, but he tossed those in the hopper.

It might seem like the tail wagging the dog, but city officials and anyone looking out for the best interest of teens should look to Detroit for help. Despite all of its ills, Detroit is where there is an innovative and effective initiative called Midnight Golf Program that is turning around the lives of young people.

The premise is yes, one can play golf at midnight if someone shines a light on the course. The MGP shines the light on the course of life for folk 17-22 years old.

The program takes young folk who are having problems in some aspect of their lives and provides them a plethora of life skills including financial literacy, social etiquette, preparing for college, public speaking, professional writing, life choices, dining etiquette, decision making, mamtaining physical fitness, career exploration, employability skills, conflict resolution and investment education.

MPG has been assisting young people with these skill sets for more than six years. If they can be successful with a volunteer board and no full time staff; imagine the impact Daley could have by re-dkecting some curfew dollars to a similar program. And yes, the young people do learn to golf.

The MPG is the kind of creative approach needed and can obviously benefit youngsters more than the threat of being on the clock for a ticket. There is nothing wrong with exposing teens to skills that can benefit them the rest of their Uves. The thought of a man or woman standing on the world stage and saying '20 years ago as a kid in Chicago, I was given an opportunity to develop skills that helped me be a success today' sounds a lot better than an adult explaining to friends on the corner how he or she beat the curfew system a couple of decades ago.

Daley and his curfew crew need to head east on Interstate 94 immediately, find out what makes MGP work and bring it back to Chicago right away.