PURPOSE
To establish a standard for enforcing and tracking the curfew/truancy violations of the various contract cities policed by Malibu/Lost Hills Station.
PROCEDURE
Truancy or daytime curfew ordinances have been passed by most of the cities policed by Malibu/Lost Hills Station. The purpose of these infractions is to provide deputies with a constructive tool to combat localized problems associated with juveniles who should be in school.
Deputies should utilize the daytime curfew ordinance as probable cause to stop only those juveniles who appear to be aimless and have no apparent destinations. This ordinance should not be used to stop vehicles with juvenile operators or passengers.
It is not necessary for students to have school identifications when they are away from campus during the hours of the curfew. Many schools, however, do place lunch or work pass restrictions on their student identification cards which might be helpful in quickly removing suspicion regarding certain students.
Station policy requires that deputies who detain juveniles for daytime curfew fully investigate the legitimacy of the explanations offered by the students for their absence from campus. Justifiable absences would include home schooling, parental permission, medical excuses, etc.
Deputies should confirm a truancy with either the student’s school, student’s parent, or the student themselves prior to issuing a citation. Station desk personnel should be utilized to attempt confirming via telephone calls. Deputies should strive to accomplish any required investigation within ten minutes.
If a deputy cannot clearly confirm the truancy, no citation should be issued and the student should be allowed to continue on to their destination, if they can safely do so.
Once a citation has been generated for a violation of this section, the citation will initially be given to the Juvenile Intervention Team. The J.I.T. will record the information as prescribed in Field Operations Directive 96-4, have the citations processed for court, and prepare the monthly report for the chief. This report will be submitted no later than the 5th of each month.