A curfew banning minors from being out between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. has been on the books since 1968. So why did the township just put it on its website in December?
Tabernacle Township Administrator Doug Cramer said it was in response to a resident’s complaint after an erroneous report in another newspaper that claimed Tabernacle has no curfew for Mischief Night.
“There was no special curfew for Mischief Night, but there’s always been an existence of the 10 o’clock curfew since 1968,” Cramer said.
He said he believes the curfew is a good way to help police stem crime and mischief.
“Whether they’re in to mischief or something more serious, that’s a tool for them to use to resolve the issue,” Cramer said.
State police Sgt. Marc Fichtner said there are no significant problems with curfew scofflaws in Tabernacle.
“We will enforce it if necessary,” he said, noting there has never been a problem since he started there in 2008.
Fichtner thinks the ordinance helps parents keep tabs on where their children are at night.
“In this day and age it’s a lot different than it was in the ‘60s,” he said, noting kids can stay at someone else’s house but just need to be off the streets.
While he said there are not many problems with teenagers in Tabernacle, there will always be fights and bad behavior.
“I think you’re going to have that no matter where you live,” Fichtner said. “I think the curfew is fine.”
He said that if the township had a problem with the curfew it would have been repealed by now.
