COLLINS: Do curfews have any value?
-
Share on Facebook
-
Share on Bluesky
-
Share on X
- Copy Link
FOR A WHILE NOW, the City of Williams Lake has discussed the idea of a curfew. Earlier this year, the council passed some motions but did not include a curfew. I think that was the right move.
Except for a wartime-type curfew, I find little evidence to show that a curfew does or doesn’t work. Most of the studies I’ve seen are very mixed in their results. Several studies a few years ago conducted by McGill University didn’t find a real difference in the value of curfews. Some isolated studies have shown a small reduction in crime, but I don’t see the results of these curfews being worth the cost to run them.
Who are we trying to control by putting these rules in effect? The rowdy criminal element who are intent on causing trouble through arson, vandalism and break-ins? A curfew may have some value, but not if you try to enforce it with the minimal number of RCMP officers who are typically on duty overnight.
Then you have the homeless. What do we do to them? Force them into a facility where they will feel afraid and vulnerable? How about the addicts who will be wandering around the streets at night, curfew or not? Are their Charter freedoms at play? There are other issues that are at play here as well, but these three major issues by themselves will require long debate before they can be implemented.
