On July 1, the Montgomery City Council held a meeting where councilmember Marche Johnson asked the Montgomery Police Department (MPD) for more police “coverage” after 10 p.m. on weekend nights in downtown; as a result, on July 15, the city enacted a youth curfew in downtown.
“There have been a series of incidents happening downtown, in the entertainment district…so I’m asking for Friday and Saturday nights after 10 p.m. to have a higher [police] presence downtown,” said Johnson, who is the representative for District 3, which includes the entertainment district.
Johnson offered another solution that she had suggested last year, instituting a curfew. “I presented last year a curfew ordinance, I would like to reintroduce that,” said Johnson. Last year’s curfew order was unsuccessful, so Johnson will have to start a new ordinance from scratch to introduce at the next council meeting.
As a result of Johnson’s efforts, the Montgomery City Council approved on July 15, enacting a 17-and-under juvenile curfew for the Downtown Entertainment District. The curfew for youth is now in effect from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weeknights and from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, according to local news reports.
On Monday, MPD held a press conference where the police chief addressed concerns following a tragic weekend of two separate shooting incidents. One was last Friday, when 13-year-old Diamond Moore was found dead of a gunshot wound at 2:30 a.m. in the 5000 block of Greensboro Court near Mobile Highway. “This past weekend has been very difficult and painful for us and all of our citizens…the unacceptable homicide of a 13-year-old child, of every possible crime, this is the most egregious, and it weighs on me; it weighs on all of us…We are going to be making every effort, and my people are going to be bringing every resource to bear to bring this suspect to justice,” said Montgomery Police Chief James Graboys. Graboys gave his condolences to Moore’s family before speaking about the other incidents.
The other shooting victim was found near Birmingham Highway near the West Boulevard intersection, where he was transported to a local hospital after suffering a life-threatening gunshot wound. Another shooting happened on Saturday night in the downtown area. No one was injured, but it “affected multiple people because of the perception it creates,” said Graboys.
Graboys talked about some implementations that will be taking place to help combat crime in the city. “We will work through changed hours and off days as required to ensure increased coverage where and when it is needed. Further, we’ve instituted an exhibition driving detail and are instituting targeted traffic enforcement details that are going to include checkpoints with zero tolerance…we are going to be utilizing technology to increase our ability to apprehend suspects via increased camera coverage in the city using both license plate readers and facial recognition software.” These are just a few of the improvements and implementations Graboys spoke about to city councilmembers to help combat crime in the capitol city.
