JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After multiple shootings have left teens injured or dead, the city of Miami enforced a mandatory curfew for teenagers, which is similar to a law Jacksonville has in place.
The new law went into effect Monday night and has made it illegal for minors to gather in public areas between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday.
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Jacksonville has a similar law on the books, but a local pastor said it's not being enforced.
"When the situation is dire, you do by any means necessary, and I still think a curfew is something that either I'm wishing that our city leadership will try to maybe consider re-addressing," said Pastor Kenneth Adkins.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has tried implementing programs that have the same mission of combating crime, but Adkins said officials must first focus on enforcing curfew.
"They have implemented Operation Ceasefire, but yet shootings and crime continue," Adkins said.
State Attorney Angela Corey said enforcement is difficult, but it depends on where the violations occur.
"If it's obvious and it's out in public, the police can make that arrest. If they are called someplace and the person has already committed a crime, then police generally won't tack on curfew, because you don't if you're already arresting a young person for a more serious crime," Corey said.
She also said there are other enforcement measures out there that involve parents.
"It's so disappointing the only thing we can do is ... parents have every right to search their children's belongings in their rooms, provided the child does not pay rent. And the parent needs to know if that child is harboring any kind of dangerous weapons (and) who they're to hang out with," she said. "Parents just need to be as vigilant as possible."
Last year, there were 1,212 curfew violations. So far this year, though, there have been only 226 curfew violations.