Detroit may expand fireworks-weekend curfew to 4 days

The city of Detroit wants to expand to four days in late June the 6 p.m. curfew for minors that is typically enforced on a single night for the city's fireworks celebration.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan opposes the measure because it could be unconstitutional and because, they charge, it criminalizes innocent Detroit youth.

"There have to be more tailored methods to address these kinds of issues for law enforcement to potentially criminalize a portion of the population," said Bill Goodman, a Detroit-based attorney cooperating with the ACLU. "It's exactly the image that Detroit does not need these days."

An emergency ordinance was sent to the City Council this week that would prohibit minors from being outside without a parent after 6 p.m. on the nights of Detroit's River Days festival, June 19-21, and the night of the fireworks display, June 22. The curfew would end at 6 a.m. the next day. There are some exceptions, including minors on the sidewalk outside their home and those traveling to or from work or an educational program.

The council met with the police department and the city's law department in a closed session on Wednesday to discuss the proposal. The council could vote on it next week.

"Based on experiences from recent River Days festivals, the police department is urging that the expanded curfew for the fireworks be extended to three days of the River Days festival," the city's top lawyer, Melvin (Butch) Hollowell, wrote in a memo to the council.

The proposed ordinance cites "numerous incidents of harassment, nuisance, vandalism, and violence" during the fireworks and River Days festival.

The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy hosts River Days along the Detroit River between Hart Plaza and William G. Milliken State Park.

During last year's fireworks celebration at Hart Plaza, police detained 148 juveniles and issued 87 curfew violation ordinances.

Contact Joe Guillen: 313-222-6678 or jguillen@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joeguillen.