Suit attacks Ville Platte curfew
The ACLU has amended its complaint against Ville Platte and the city’s late-night walking curfew, alleging that “while the curfew has been suspended, the danger has not passed.”
The amended complaint, filed Monday, states that Arthur Sampson, president of the Evangeline Chapter of the NAACP and the plaintiff in the case, remains fearful that the city “will reinstate the curfew for the same arbitrary and irrational reasons as it instituted it in the first place.”
The ordinance allows the mayor to call for a temporary 30-day walking curfew prohibiting foot traffic from 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. to reduce violence, drug abuse and crime within the city. If needed, the curfew can be extended for 30 days by a council vote.
The city adopted the curfew in February 2011 in response to a rash of break-ins and burglaries.
The initial curfew prohibited foot traffic “by anyone, anywhere in town, for any reason whatsoever,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union’s suit.
The curfew remained in effect until October, when the council voted to suspend the curfew in response to the ACLU’s lawsuit filed earlier that month.
In November, the council unanimously voted to amend the ordinance to address some of the constitutional concerns raised in the suit.
If put into effect, the amended curfew will not apply to individuals acting in an emergency situation, standing in the parking lot of a supervised and open business, exercising their constitutional right to commute to or from work, or exercising their First Amendment rights, such as commuting to or from religious gatherings, public speeches and legally permitted public assembly.
However, the suit says the new language makes it clear that the city gave Ville Platte Mayor Jennifer Vidrine “unilateral authority to immediately reinstate the curfew for 30 days” if the mayor feels it is in the city’s best interest to do so.
“The point of the lawsuit is to make sure that it does not get reinstated,” said Marjorie Esman, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana.
Vidrine was not available for comment Wednesday.
Ville Platte Councilman Freddie Jack said the curfew is not in effect , because “we haven’t had a spike in crime.”
Jack said the only curfew currently being enforced is one that targets juveniles under the age of 17, who are not allowed on the streets after 10 p.m. from Sunday through Thursday and after midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Councilman Mike Perron said the council decided to amend the ordinance because “the room was full with people who wanted us to continue with the curfew.”
“If we see we need it, then we will come back with it, but we don’t want to do it just to do it,” Perron said.
The complaint says that about 134 people were cited, arrested, fined and/or jailed between the inception and suspension of the curfew.
“Despite those arrests, crime in Ville Platte did not significantly decrease during the duration of the curfew,” the complaint says.
Conversely, arrests and imprisonments for curfew violations, as well as violations of a city ordinance that requires all residents to wear reflective clothing after dark “skyrocketed” during that time, “filling Ville Platte’s jails with otherwise innocent civilians and creating a financial windfall for the city,” the complaint says.
The suit says that during the curfew, Sampson and other residents “were unable to visit friends and relatives, go for a stroll, run late-night errands, jog, walk their dogs” or enjoy other activities protected by their constitutional rights.