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Published: Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Nov. 04, 2009 12:25 AM

Resident calls for Tega Cay curfew

TEGA CAY -- 

Minutes after midnight one Sunday, Chuck Rietz was sound asleep. The Tega Cay man didn't know his teenage daughter had other plans.

“She snuck out one of the windows and met a boy,” Rietz said. “She got in his car and they proceeded to joy ride around Tega Cay.”

The pair was stopped about three blocks from Rietz's house, he said.

“For some reason, he (the male driver) didn't have his lights on, and the Tega Cay Police Department stopped him, said Rietz, who later retrieved his then 14-year-old daughter from the police department.

Now, he has a request for the Tega Cay City Council.

“I want them to establish a curfew to stop these kids from joyriding at night,” Rietz said. “It (the curfew) would cut down on any vandalism.”

The request isn't about asking the government or authorities to take over parenting duties. Instead, he said, the idea is to allow Tega Cay authorities to police when teens should be out late at night.

“It's a tool that they need in their arsenal to be able to control the teenager,” Rietz said. “Right now their hands are tied. All they can do is tell the teens to go home.”

Nearly two weeks ago, Rietz presented his request to the Tega Cay City Council. Councilman George Sheppard failed to find fault with the idea of a curfew.

“We should have a curfew,” Sheppard said during a political forum. “There is no reason why 14, 15, and 16-year-olds should be out joyriding.”

Mayor Bob Runde agreed.

“We should consider it after public input,” he said.

Tega Cay isn't the first city in York County to consider enacting a teen curfew. While the Clover Police Department does not have a teen curfew, authorities in York and Rock Hill enforce one. Enacting such an ordinance is a measure that Tega Cay's Police Chief Rick Evelsizer supports.

“I don't see a problem with some teens going out with friends to a movie or dinner and coming home at 11 p.m., Evelsizer said. “That's common, but I don't see a need for a teen to be out at two or three in the morning.”

A curfew, he said, would check that behavior.

“Having a curfew gives us a right to speak to a juvenile,” he said. “If we see a juvenile walking down a street at midnight, we're walking a fine line if we pull over and start questioning that teen. With the curfew, if teens are out past a certain hour, then we have something to fall back on as to why we are questioning the juvenile.”

In recent months, some Tega Cay street signs were vandalized and two fires were set behind the Tree City's Walmart. Within the last two weeks, the police department answered multiple calls in a single night for 11 vehicle break-ins, where three iPods, seven GPS tracking systems, two Nintendo consoles and money was stolen.

“I believe that they were juveniles,” Evelsizer said of the suspect or suspects in the alleged vehicle break-ins. “The car break-ins may have been prevented by us having the ability to speak to teens we may have seen out that night in the community.”

Under Rock Hill's ordinance, which originated in 1995, teens are not allowed to stroll, wander, loiter or play in or on public streets, highways, roads, parks, playgrounds, alleys or other public grounds or places from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday to Thursday from September to May, the ordinance notes. On Fridays and Saturdays, that time changes to 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. That same curfew remains in place daily from June to August.

“It's a tool to protect teens and to provide for their safety,” said Lt. Brad Redfearn of the Rock Hill Police Department. “It helps prevent late night juvenile crimes and it also helps protect the teen from people committing late night crimes on them.”

There are some exceptions, Redfearn said.

The curfew does not apply to teens who are attending official school events, religious functions or other adult supervised activities. Also exempt are teens who are traveling the interstate, working, facing verifiable emergencies, embarking on outings with their parents or running parent or guardian directed errands. The curfew also does not apply to teens who are on their own property.

However, teens caught violating the curfew receive a warning for their first offense before authorities take them home. The next offense brings a citation; however, the citation doesn't go to the teen. The parent must appear in court and faces a maximum $250 fine plus court costs or a 30-day jail sentence.

In York, parents could face up to a $500 fine or a 30-day jail sentence, according to the York ordinance.

Rietz's daughter, now 15, doesn't want her father to go to jail or pay a fine, she said.

“Sneaking out is not worth it,” Rietz‘s daughter said.

The teen was not charged with any crime and spoke on the condition of anonymity. She said she supports adopting a teen curfew.

“I don't think it's a bad idea because it would give teenagers better judgment,” the teen said. “It will teach teenagers to really think about what they're doing and the consequences if they get caught.”

The teen said she isn't planning anymore rendezvous and her father said she hasn't left the house without permission since the initial incident, Rietz said. But he's ready in case a Tega Cay curfew is not enacted.

“We put security alarms on all the windows and doors,” he said. “A little voice will tell us (if) a window or door is open and which one. It's loud enough. It will wake me up.”

The city's public safety committee will consider the curfew and make its recommendation to the Tega Cay City Council, City Manager Grant Duffield said.

“There are pluses and minuses to it,” he said. “It will boil down to what city council feels is in the best interest of the community.”

If the ordinance gains movement with the safety committee, the measure could be in front of city council for initial approval as early as December.