By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
The siren call of the curfew warning no longer sounds in Paulsboro, all because of Shaina Harris.
“I thought it was really unfair,” she said.
Shaina’s from Wanaque, not Paulsboro. A couple years ago, she walked to Burger King for a milkshake. The aerial shot shows, it’s literally just across the street from her home. Shaina had her parents’ permission, but it was after curfew. Police pulled her aside and gave her a ticket.
“You know, treat people right. I should be able to walk across the street at night to get a milkshake,” she said.
The 17-year-old’s parents agreed. They sued Wanaque — and won.
“We know a lot of kids in my town that have also had problems with the police over the curfew act and we thought it’s unconstitutional and we wanted to do something about it,” Shaina said.
“We shouldn’t be putting anyone on lock down,” said Ed Barocas of the ACLU of New Jersey.
New Jersey’s ACLU represented Shaina in the Wanaque lawsuit. Barocas says the town agreed to rescind its curfew ordinance and that many municipalities across New Jersey are now starting to walk back their curfew laws, too, including Paulsboro.
“We simply don’t do that! We don’t have this type of — whether it’s martial law for parents or for children. We simply don’t do that,” Barocas said.
“It’s not a lock down, it’s keeping kids safe,” said Paulsboro Police chief Chris Wachter.
Wachter says curfews keep kids off the streets — at least from 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. But following the Wanaque decision, Paulsboro’s council voted to repeal its curfew.
“Now these kids are gonna be out wandering around without parental supervision. It’s not a good thing for a community. Now there’s gonna be even more problems,” Wachter said.
“If you’re under 18, you shouldn’t be on the street after 10 o’clock. Because who’s watching your children?” asked one resident.
The Paulsboro residents we spoke with seemed to agree.
“The kids are gonna be doing what they wanna do and they’re gonna be out late,” said another.
“They need structure. They need curfews,” a third resident said.
Many New Jersey towns have curfew ordinances. Some — including Paulsboro, Logan and Hamilton — have repealed them. Others — like Atlantic City — adamantly refuse to kill their curfews. Camden’s got a business curfew, which closes stores that attract loiterers at 11 p.m. After a violent summer, Paterson’s considering one of those.
Shaina feels vindicated.
“It was unconstitutional of them to make that ordinance so they should go back and recheck what they’re doing,” she said.
Back in Paulsboro, police now wonder if the traditional Halloween/Mischief Night curfew enforced by many towns would withstand a court challenge. They’re looking into it.