Indianapolis may make more restrictive curfew hours than state’s

By Gregg Montgomery

Click here for updates on this story

    INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A couple of days after a downtown mass shooting killed two teens and injured five other people, Indianapolis city councilors on Monday night faced several issues, including a new proposal to make the youth curfew more restrictive than Indiana’s.

In addition, a new call was made for the two leaders of the council to step down, a disgruntled councilor announced minutes before the meeting that she’s leaving the Democratic caucus, and councilors agreed to give more money to a Chicago law firm that conducted a sexual harassment investigation of the mayor’s administration.

Curfew times to change? Democrat Leroy Robinson, the leader of the City-County Council’s Public Safety and Criminal justice Committee, on Monday night introduced a proposal to change the hours of the city’s youth curfew.

Essentially, Robinson’s proposal would take ages 15-17 off the streets two hours earlier than state law allows.

Robinson said more needs to be done, and that the community must come together. “We can’t do this alone. The IMPD (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department) doesn’t have the capacity to do it. The juvenile system doesn’t have the capacity to do it. We need hundreds of people to help support this.”

The committee will review the proposal at 5:30 p.m. July 16 at the City-County Building. It will give a recommendation on whether to advance proposal. The full council could vote on the changes as soon at its next meeting, 7 p.m. Aug. 4.

Indiana’s curfew law says children ages 15-17 may not be in a public place between 1 a.m. Saturdays and Fridays until 5 a.m. the next day; or from 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays to 5 a.m. the next day.

Robinson’s proposal would make it illegal for children ages 15-17 to be in a public place from 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturday to 5 a.m. the next day, and from 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays to 5 a.m. the next day.

Sara Hindi, chief communications officer for the Indianapolis City-County Council, shared the proposal via email about 6 minutes before the meeting was set to begin. As of 7:45 p.m., the proposal had not yet been posted on the council’s webpage that publicly shares proposals.

According to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the state law makes exceptions for a juvenile accompanied by a parent, guardian, or custodian or adult; for a juvenile accompanied by an adult specified by a parent, guardian or custodian; or a juvenile participating in, going to, or returning from work, a school-sanctioned activity, a religious event, an emergency involving the protection of a person or property from an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or substantial damage, or an activity involving the exercise of the juveniles engaging in the Constitution’s freedom of speech or the right of assembly.

The law also make exceptions for a juvenile participating in an activity conducted by a nonprofit, education, training or other care under the supervision of an adult; a juvenile participating in an activity with the prior written consent of the juvenile’s parent, guardian or custodian; or a juvenile traveling from outside Indiana to another location outside Indiana.

Democratic Councilwoman Crista Carlino said the curfew extension can help. “It’s absolutely devastated, but as a parent I can think about those curfew laws and I point to them myself and say, ‘Nope, it’s Saturday night. This is your age. You need to be home and in bed.’”

On Monday night, a statement from the Fraternal Order of Police Indianapolis Lodge No. 86 said, in part, “We appreciate the Mayor’s and Council’s interests in suddenly tightening the parameters within the Indianapolis-Marion County curfew ordinance. We welcome them to the party. We’ve been saving them a seat.”

The statement concluded, “Tonight’s proposal in its current form appears to be little more than window dressing on a sinking ship. We are concerned this sudden hard stance (on curfew only) may be too little, too late from Indy’s politicians in charge.”

Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett, who did not attend the council meeting, said in a statement that he’d worked with council leaders on the proposed curfew changes, but noted conversations are ahead before increased enforcement of the curfew can happen. Robinson had noted in a statement issued Saturday, “The Marion County Juvenile Detention Center and Juvenile Family Services currently do not have the staffing or capacity to intake and process large numbers of minors on a Friday or Saturday night.”

Also, Council Majority Leader Maggie Lewis, a Democrat, said in a Saturday statement that she wants to direct more “private and public” dollars to give police help from social organizations. The council on Monday night allocated $2 million from additional supplemental income tax revenue for crime prevention grants for community-based violence reduction efforts.

Leadership challenge Democrat Jesse Brown introduce a motion to start the process to remove Democrat Vop Osili as council president and Ali Brown as vice president. He noted on a TikTok post before the meeting that his proposal “will require other councilors to step up.”

A motion to vote on Brown’s proposal failed Monday night.

In February, Democrats removed Brown from their caucus. Brown represents District 13, which covers a portion of the near east side between Delaware Street and Emerson Avenue.

Embattled councilor leaves Democratic caucus Councilor Crista Carlino, who last month stepped down from heading the council’s investigative committee looking into allegations of sexual harassment in the administration of Mayor Joe Hogsett. said Monday night she’s leaving the Democratic caucus.

A Chicago law firm’s report found the mayor and his administration did not break any laws or policies.

Carlino is one of four councilors who have asked for Mayor Joe Hogsett to resign amid allegations of sexual harassment in his administration. Carlino in June had expressed her concerns about the scope of the investigation, believing certain search terms and people were being left out. She emphasized that her calls for Hogsett’s resignation were made with the accusers and the city’s workforce in mind, not for political motives.

She and the caucus had some sort of discord in June, and she issued an apology and remained on the caucus.

Before the meeting, she said in an interview with the news media, “I will not be caucusing with either party for the foreseeable future and I think that’s the best decision for me at this time. It’s unfortunate, but, for me, lack of leadership, abuse of power, and an inequitable application of the caucus rules really led me to make this decision, and I feel that I’m justified in stepping away for that reason.”

Harassment investigators get more money The council voted to give $300,000 in additional city funds to Chicago law firm Fisher Phillips, which had already been paid $500,000 for its seven-month investigation of sexual harassment allegations in the Hogsett administration. The investigation came amid harassment complaints against former Hogsett Chief of Staff Thomas Cook.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.