New Haven's police chief said Wednesday it might be time "to explore" a curfew in Newhallville, one of the city's most troubled neighborhoods.
"A lot of people go to parties and stuff," said 14-year-old Tasheem Scott, as he spent a day of suspension from school on Sheldon Avenue. "But every time there's a party there's usually something that breaks out and something bad happens."
He's in favor of a curfew. But two other young men on bicycles on Bassett Street scoff at the idea.
"Ain't nobody gonna want to go in the crib when they don't want to," said Ralphie Quinones. "They're gonna want to go in when they want to, not when people tell 'em to. Everybody feel like they're grown."
"I know the cops are like, Law and Order, and that good stuff," said Jabree Bryant. "But nobody gonna listen to that curfew."
He said, "I don't like the police," because officers have "stopped us when we're not doing anything."
There's not enough to do and no community center for the kids to visit, according to a hair salon owner, Valjean Ashe. She thinks parents have to police their children.
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"I don't think a curfew is gonna work," she said. "I think parents need to assume responsibility for their children and to keep up with them.
"You got a generation of babies having babies and nobody's parenting these children," she said.
Meanwhile, as barbers and their customers bounced balls on the sidewalk, another man looked on from his parked motorcycle.
"Half these kids ain't got no mothers and fathers to make them go in the house," said Derik Jones, calling a curfew "irrelevant".
