Memphis police will take kids out past curfew to a community center, chief says

Kids who are out past curfew will be brought to the Greenlaw Community Center, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "C.J." Davis told Memphis City Council members Tuesday morning.

The plan is part of the Memphis Police Department's initiative to more strictly enforce a 1996 curfew ordinance that says those 16 and under cannot be out past 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and extends the curfew to 11 p.m. for Friday and Saturday. Seventeen-year-olds are allowed to be out an hour longer than others.

A timeline has not been set in stone for the initiative to kick off, with the delay being Greenlaw renovations — like painting and air conditioning — that are underway. But Davis told councilmembers during the Memphis City Council's Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee she hopes to start around June.

"We're hoping it's going to be [started] this summer, around June," Davis said. "That work is being done on the facility right now, and we will probably start as soon as we start seeing more activity downtown...This wouldn't be a detention-type environment. The messaging is really, 'Where are your children?' Just like those commercials used to say."

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Davis said the goal is to provide a "safe space" for kids, and said the Greenlaw Community Center was not identified specifically for this initiative, but was identified months ago as a recreation place to bring young people. MPD will manage the center, Davis said Tuesday.

Previously, the Greenlaw Community Center was managed by Memphis Athletic Ministries, according to the City of Memphis contract portal. That contract expired in June 2022, and a renewed contract has not appeared in that portal.

Holding kids at the community center would differ from a detention center, Davis said, adding that officers should handle the initiative similarly to truancy.

"Basically, if a child is wandering around, and we see that child, we tell them they have got to come with us," Davis said. "Until parents can pick them up, we're not going to let them leave, because that would defeat the purpose of what we are trying to do in the first place in trying to find a safe space for kids. It's not different than when we have truancy and see children roaming around, and out of the safety for the child, we pick them up and get them to family services or some other resource. We hope if we have to detain a young person, that we will be able to reunite that young person with their parents on that same night."

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According to MPD Public Information Officer Christopher Williams, officers will approach kids — or those who appear to be kids — after curfew and speak to them to determine the age of the person, but said officers would not judge age by appearance.

"If an officer encounters a juvenile, or who appears to be a juvenile or somewhere in that range, after curfew — or for another offense — the officer would make contact with them and speak to them and then determine the age by that conversation," Williams said.

He added that there are often kids downtown, but said it is not a problem for them to be there during the day, only after curfew.

"Juveniles are downtown all the time, which is not our issue," Williams said. "The issue is when it's after curfew — one or two or three o'clock in the morning — and we find anywhere from eight year olds to 16 year olds hanging out in our downtown area."

Outside the Memphis City Council chambers Tuesday evening, Davis told reporters Greenlaw Community Center would "not be a place where you're going to see handcuffs."

"We want activities," Davis said. "Greenlaw is an activity center. It has basketball courts, it has game rooms. We are hoping to have educational opportunities for our young people as well. It's not a place you're going to see handcuffs. This is for young people who might be status offenders, and status offenders are not criminals. Those are young people who are doing things that, for an adult, wouldn't be illegal to do."

Davis went on to say that those "status offenders" are treated differently than "children who commit crimes," with status offenders being routed through what she called the "Greenlaw system" and the others will go through the juvenile system.

When asked by a reporter from The Daily Memphian about the volume of kids downtown past curfew, Davis pointed to the city's population and MPD not having "the bandwidth to handle all of the children that are out and about in our city."

"But as a parent, when I'm out as a police chief and I see a seven-year-old that's with a 12-year-old, that's a problem," Davis added. "We may not be addressing all of the children that are out, because some of them might be with older sisters and brothers, but when we see children that look like they're vulnerable, then we will attempt to get those young people back with their parents."

Davis declined to specify a question from a Commercial Appeal reporter asking if seven to nine year olds being out past curfew was an anomaly or common occurrence, saying, "That's not a good question...because you're talking about someone that doesn't fall into curfew. You're talking about a baby."

The City of Memphis curfew ordinance specifically references "any minor between 17 and 18 years of age" and "any minor 16 years of age and under" when describing the differing hours for the two age groups.

Memphis City Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas voiced concern about the approaches being taken to curb minors being out past curfew, and conversations being had about children's safety, saying there need to be more affordable recreational activities for kids to partake in around the city.

"I think that we are taking a wrong approach looking at this...but it seems as though we're looking at it through the viewpoint of youth as a problem, and youth as a target issue," Easter-Thomas said. "It's not a conversation about the opportunity [of kids], rather the issue of kids."

Katherine Burgess covers government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Kids out past curfew in Memphis to be taken to Greenlaw Community Center