(Philadelphia) It was a beautiful cold January evening. Kerla Milius stayed behind to chat with classmates at the university in downtown Philadelphia, where she is attending advanced training courses.
Posted at 6:00 am.
As she exited the subway to return to her home in the north-west of the “City of Brotherly Love,” the evening took a lopsided turn. “A police car pulled up next to me,” the 12th grader said. They asked me if I was of legal age. Since this was not the case, they warned me that they could arrest me for violating the 10pm curfew. It was like a nightmare. »

PHOTO PROVIDED BY KERLA MILIUS
Kerla Milius
Last December, the Philadelphia City Council passed a new curfew that requires people under the age of 18 to stay home after 10 p.m. unless they have work or study responsibilities or are with their parents. Until then, young people aged 16 and 17 could go home at midnight.
“The curfew was part of the community ordinance for decades but was not enforced,” said David Oh, the only one of the 16 city council members to vote against the measure. “It was revived during the anti-police riots a decade ago and more recently due to the surge in crime during the pandemic. »

PHOTO FROM THE DAVID OH WEBSITE
David Oh, Philadelphia City Councilman
I’m against it because young people who cause trouble don’t get caught. In any case, the figures for juvenile delinquency are not moving. And that leads to a lot of situations where the police arrest people who haven’t done anything.
David Oh, Philadelphia City Councilman
The counsel leading the case, Katherine Gilmore Richardson, told a press conference that the curfew is reducing the number of “young people who are involved in crime simply because they are late going out”. Ms Gilmore Richardson did not respond to several interview requests from La Presse.
The fear of shootings
“I haven’t noticed a decrease in crime in my neighborhood,” says Milius. No one wants to stay out on the streets for long anyway because of the risk of getting caught in a gunfight. »
Between 2019 and 2022, the number of homicides in Philadelphia, a Montreal-sized city that had 39 homicides in 2022, increased from 353 to 516 (up from 24 in 2019). The difference between the two cities is larger than the average difference between homicide rates in Canada and the United States, which are 2 and 8 per 100,000, respectively.
After school at Constitution High School in downtown Philadelphia, four eleventh graders agreed to answer questions from La Presse but declined to give their last names. Jordan, Aleah, Jaylaih and Ayanna say neither of them are afraid of breaking the curfew and hate dealing with the trained cops.
“What curfew? » Jordan jokes at first, before boasting that he can outrun the squad cars.
The best curfew is that in my neighborhood you can’t really be safe at night.
Ayanna, an 11th grade student at Constitution High School
“But when you’re a big group, there are fewer risks. The police should trust that we take care of our own safety,” demands the young girl.
A critical lack of police
La Presse climbed into a Philadelphia police squad car for an evening in early March. Constable Mike Duffy, a veteran who has roamed the city’s streets for more than 20 years, says curfew arrests are rare. “The city has banned us from stopping cars for minor infractions, such as a malfunctioning headlight, on grounds of racial justice,” Constable Duffy said. So why would I interrupt a basketball game with players who are maybe 17, maybe 18? »
Without stopping, he passes a basketball court where about fifteen young people are playing.
Often there aren’t enough people to answer the calls, so you can’t arrest a young person just for violating curfew.
Mike Duffy, Officer of the Philadelphia Police Department
“Last week I arrested a 12-year-old boy who had committed three armed robberies in an apartment building. We recognized him from videos. He lived with his grandmother and walked around with a gun. It’s sad, he didn’t even know the name of the school he went to or the street he lived on,” Constable Duffy said.
The Philadelphia Police Union estimates there is a shortage of 1,000 to 2,000 officers. It is currently 6,400, compared to 4,500 in Montreal.
When a young person is arrested for violating the curfew, the priority is getting them home. If no adult is home, they are dropped off at a community center. “We’re going to talk to him to find out why he wasn’t home, to find out if there’s a problem with his family and his housing,” said Terrilynn Donnell, director of the Community of Compassion center in the city’s southwest. “We will encourage him to come to our after-school activities, which last until 9pm. About one in two young curfew violators return to extracurricular activities. »

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA
Teens participate in an after-school activity at a local Community of Compassion community center in the city’s southwest.
On average, half a dozen young people are at Ms. Donnell’s center each night. Rarely are the evenings when nobody is there. “Last month it was 60 at once,” she said. There had been a mass burglary [flash mob] in a Wawa, a convenience store chain in Philadelphia that has a few small supermarkets. Wawa’s “flagship,” an 11,000-square-foot downtown store, closed in 2020 due to mass burglaries.
Some community centers are less busy than Mrs. Donnell’s. According to the city, in 2022, 605 young people visited the centers a total of 1,405 times for violating the curfew.
“The racism of the authorities”
At Vaux Big Picture High in poor West Philadelphia, Reuben Jones of Frontline Dads organizes a leadership group for 11th and 12th graders. On a midday day in early March, only two young people are present at the meeting, Anthony Young and Ezrim Gill. Both are in 12th grade and will be going to university next year, but Mr Gill isn’t sure he can last long as he has a one-year-old child who lives with his mother and children. maternal grandparents.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FRONTLILNE DADS
Reuben Jones at a protest outside Philadelphia City Hall
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FRONTLINE DADS
Ezrim Gill at a meeting moderated by Reuben Jones
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FRONTLINE DADS
An ancestor honoring ceremony during a gathering led by Reuben Jones. Anthony Young holds the vase.
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During a ceremony at the beginning of the meeting, where a deceased must be named in order to be honored, Mr Young spoke of his cousin, who was shot last year.
“The goal is to recognize, talk about, and heal our trauma,” says Jones.
After the meeting, La Presse asked them if they had any curfew issues before they were 18. “I’ve never followed a curfew, I’ve been out until 2am since I was 15,” boasts Mr Young.
Mr. Jones interrupts his bravery. “The curfew is another expression of racism by the authorities, but you don’t have to do anything when you’re out this late. You will find yourself in the company of people who have guns without realizing it and one day you will kill someone. And you will end up in jail. Is it that what you want? »
43%
Percentage of African Americans in the population of Philadelphia
431
Number of minors charged with violent crimes in Philadelphia in 2022
31%
Poverty rate among African Americans in Philadelphia
26%
Poverty rate in Philadelphia
Source: City of Philadelphia
Wave of violence and motocross parades

PHOTO SUPPLIED BY MIKE DUFFY
Mike Duffy (left) during an illegal ATV and motocross chase
Mass burglaries aren’t the only chilling phenomena that have escalated in Philadelphia during the pandemic. The fashion for downtown motocross (dirt bike) and mountain bike parades, often during the day, has reached nightmarish proportions in the past three years.
“There’s nothing we can do because we can’t hunt them down,” Agent Duffy said. They mock us, they don’t have license plates, they dodge traffic. Before the no-tracking, I was given a dirt bike and managed to follow them to their garage a few times with the help of a helicopter. Their vehicles had been confiscated. »
Councilman David Oh believes prosecuting criminals for minor offenses is the only way to stem the tide of violence sweeping Philadelphia.
It makes no sense to tolerate this rudeness. It’s like the subway, we’ve completely given up safety in the city. We have people smoking and fighting in subway cars.
David Oh, Councilman
The City of Philadelphia organized a visit to the gentrification district of Germantown. “We want places to be more livable, and we also want to add a sense of security with lights and cameras,” said Ibriz Muhammad, Philadelphia City Trade Relations Manager. “We fund 100% of the installation of cameras near the doors and windows of businesses. It’s very popular. We clean the facades and try to convince companies to put back their metal curtains so that we don’t feel so insecure. »
Steven Taylor, a former computer scientist, has opened an art gallery, Ubuntu, on Germantown’s Main Street with the help of the community, where he exhibits his photographs. What about security and curfew?

PHOTO MATHIEU PERREAULT, THE PRESS
Steven Taylor in his art gallery
I think the only answer to crime is to make people proud of their neighborhood. The only reason my window wasn’t broken is because people respect me and know I respect them.
Steven Taylor, gallery owner from Germantown
About 50 meters from Ubuntu is Gaffney’s Fabric Store, a neighborhood institution for over a century. “Security? says owner Kate Gaffney. One thing is certain: I will never get rid of my iron curtains. »
Neighborhood business associations have taken the bull by the horns and hired security forces. “At the start of the pandemic, we were having about 10 burglaries a week,” said Kris Kennedy, director of the Northern Liberties neighborhood business association. “Since we hired a security company, the problem is solved. »

PHOTO FROM THE GRAYMAN SECURITY RISK MANAGEMENT WEBSITE
Grayman ambassadors patrol the Fishtown neighborhood of poor and dangerous Northeast Philadelphia.
Scott Nistico, head of Grayman Security Risk Management, the security agency employed by Ms. Kennedy, estimates that business volume in his Philadelphia area of operations has increased by a factor of 10 since the pandemic began. “The new trend is risk management,” says Nistico, who founded his company after retiring from a “government agency,” a term that usually refers to the CIA or FBI.
“My people are unarmed, they walk around, they help homeless people, they ask people who are wandering around at night if they can help them. Their mere presence can deter some people from committing crimes. It improves the quality of life of neighborhood residents. We have good relations with the police, we call them when there is danger. »
On the evening La Presse spent with Officer Mike Duffy, one of the three squad cars on duty was assigned to patrol a Walmart with an agent on board who was being paid overtime by the store.