The child protection curfew went into effect on Friday night and three nights into its operation, the Ministry of Human Development says a grand total of 5 children were picked up. That's right, only five children were picked up for violating the curfew. But CEO in the Ministry of Human Development Anita Zetina says the small number of offenders is actually a good thing.
Anita Zetina, CEO - Ministry of Human Development
"We picked up five children over the weekend, all boys ages 9 to 15, all on the south side. We were able to contact their parents and so the children were returned home. And what we did with the parents is we gave them a letter of warning for them to be aware that the curfew is on and that whenever we pick up the children, they have responsibility for their children being out."
Keith Swift,
You said you only picked up five children, is that a good or a bad thing?
Anita Zetina,
"I think it is a good thing because then we know that our children are off the streets, if we see it that way. People might be saying why have as curfew if only five children are out there. But you know that if there wasn't any announcement of the curfew happening, we would have had lots more children out there. This is not to say that there were not children out there but the children who were out there were accompanied by an adult or parent or a guardian. So in the scheme of things there were children out there, it is only five children that they found who were not accompanied, as a matter of fact three of them we found out had been sent out by their parents to do some errands. So parents need to be aware that after 8 o'clock children should not be out on the streets."
The curfew is still in effect indefinitely, meaning that again tonight after 8, no child 16 or under 16 is allowed to be on the streets without adult supervision.
