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Another Proposal For Oakland Youth Curfew Meets Opposition

OAKLAND (KCBS)— Oakland's police chief is proposing a youth curfew in the city to help reduce the risk of teens getting into trouble, but some youth group leaders have said that may not be the solution.

Crime statistics in Oakland show that juvenile crimes are going up. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, nearly 420 juveniles have been arrested since January for an array of crimes, including homicide.

However, this is not a new idea for Oakland. Former police chief Anthony Batts wanted the City Council to pass a curfew ordinance last year, but the measured failed.

KCBS' Dave Padilla Reports:

Now Police Chief Howard Jordan is reviving it, but has yet to formally outline his plans.

On the surface Henry Woods likes it. He's program manager for California Youth Outreach, an organization with several chapters.

"Fresno has a program, that at 10 o'clock, they have a public service announcement that says 'do you know where your kids are at?' We need something like that in Oakland. We've got far too many kids roaming the streets late at night unsupervised," said Woods.

Lucas Brekke-Mieser of Oakland Kids First explained why he's opposed to the youth curfew.

"If this is a blanket curfew, I think that really criminalizes young people across the board and there's a lot of young people that are involved in a lot of great programs that are after school and that go late, etc."

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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