Police agencies across Indiana worry a federal appeals court decision declaring Indiana's curfew law unconstitutional will rid them of a tool to keep teenagers off the streets late at night.
Some authorities, however, say it should be the responsibility of parents to police their children.
The appeals court ruled 3-0 Thursday against the law that bans minors from being out past 11 p.m. on week nights and 1 a.m. on weekends. The court ruled the law interfered both with minors' First Amendments rights and with parents' rights to raise their children as they see fit.
In response to the ruling, several police agencies across Indiana -- including those in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Valparaiso -- told officers to stop making arrests based on the curfew law.
''Everyone looks at a curfew like it's out there to hurt kids, but it's to protect them,'' Valparaiso police Capt. Curt Hawkins said. ''Parents should be enforcing their own curfews. Why should police have to do it?''
Gary police Lt. Roger Smith, however, said he believed it was important for Indiana to have a curfew law.
'We need that tool,'' he said. ''Many haven't learned the responsibility that comes with that freedom.''
The Indiana Civil Liberties Union has challenged the law in court on behalf of Colin Hodgkins, who was 16 when he was arrested in 1999 while leaving an Indianapolis restaurant three minutes after curfew.
Indianapolis city officials said they would likely ask the General Assembly to rewrite the curfew law.
City Attorney Scott Chinn said that city and state lawyers would discuss an appeal of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision, but that changes to the state law could be an easier fix.
''Quite honestly, the 7th Circuit's decision gives a road map to what would be constitutional,'' Chinn said.
Chinn said legislators could craft a law guaranteeing minors would not be arrested without proof that they are violating the curfew.
The state law allowed minors arrested on curfew violations to avoid the charge if, at the time of the arrest, they were taking part in an activity protected by the First Amendment, such as attending religious services or a death penalty protest.
The court ruled Thursday that the exception still violated minors' constitutional rights because it left them vulnerable to arrest.
Hodgkins, whose arrest led to the legal challenge, is now a student at Kenyon College in Ohio and is studying this semester in London. He said he was thrilled by the appeals court decision.
''It really impinged on my parents' ability to raise me as their child,'' he said. ''It was like the government was raising me.''
Indianapolis police Sgt. Steve Staletovich said the ruling against the curfew law could force officers to rely on more serious charges, such as disorderly conduct, to get youths off the street late at night.
Noble County Sheriff Gary Leatherman, however, said he did not believe the curfew law was much of a deterrent to teens.
'To me, it's up to the parents to set their own curfew,'' Leatherman said. ''If they would do that there would be less chance for them to get in trouble.''
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