MICHIGAN Mall imposes curfew to limit youth presence

Some mall workers say the throngs of teens scare off customers.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DETROIT -- Tired of teenagers who intimidate other shoppers, a major mall in metro Detroit is clamping down with a curfew that aims to keep unruly kids out and eager consumers in.
Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Mich., the second-largest mall in Michigan, plans to prohibit all patrons ages 17 and younger from entering its center after 5 p.m. daily unless they're accompanied by an adult 21 or older. The ban goes into effect June 1 and is part of a nationwide trend of curfews for kids at shopping malls.
Every weekend, young people come in droves to the Dearborn mall to hang out, a teenage ritual that bothers some business owners.
"It scares our customers away," said Kimberly Polo, manager of Coreys Jewel Box. "People tell me, 'I don't come here because of the kids.'"
On Friday and Saturday nights at Fairlane, there are about 2,600 teenagers roaming through the mall at any given time, said the center's security director, Arnold Wicker. Most of them don't shop, and 25 to 300 of them are ejected each night for disturbing the peace.
Racial concerns
Many of the teens are black, which adds a racial element to the situation. The mall, in mainly white Dearborn, is less than a mile from mostly black Detroit. Race has been an issue in previous situations at Fairlane, most recently in 2000, when the death of a black shoplifter -- albeit at the hands of a black security guard -- sparked controversy and protests from black Detroiters.
But "it doesn't matter if they're white, black or polka-dot; 2,600 kids is an intimidating image," Wicker said. It makes life "uncomfortable for a middle-age shopper."
Mall officials said their move has nothing to do with race and that the policy will be applied equally to all people.
They announced the plan Tuesday with signs in English, Arabic and Spanish. Under the Adult Supervision Policy, if security guards think patrons look underage, they can ask them to either leave or show an ID that proves they're 17 or older.
In recent years, the mall has turned into a "baby-sitting service," where parents drop off their kids and leave them unsupervised, Fairlane General Manager Catherine O'Malley said.
"It's a safety issue," O'Malley said.
Common nationwide
Across the United States, malls are adopting curfews to keep the peace, said Patrice Duker of the International Council of Shopping Centers.
The trend started at the gigantic Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., which established a policy in 1996 that requires youths younger than 16 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian age 21 or older after 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The Fairlane policy is for every night.
In February 2003, the Oak Hollow Mall in Hyde Point, N.C., began requiring all kids 13 and younger to be accompanied by a parent. In April 2003, the Carousel Center in Syracuse, N.Y., began requiring shoppers younger than 18 to be accompanied by a parent on Friday and Saturday nights.
In Dearborn, Fairlane's move brought a mixed reaction.
The Michigan branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said the new policy infringes on the rights of both children and parents.
"We're generally opposed to curfews that treat all minors as if they're criminals," said Kary Moss, executive director of the Michigan ACLU.
Mall workers' response
But Polo and others who work in the mall said they welcome the move.
"They're so loud, it's unbelievable," she said while tending to a display of sterling silver rings on sale. "It's a lot of swearing."
Even some stores that sell mostly to teens approve of the new policy.
"I'm glad they're doing it, even though our store sells a lot of things for kids," said Cassandra Murphy, a saleswoman at Claire's, an accessories store. "There's a lot of shoplifting that goes on. There's so many little things in the store, they can grab things without us seeing."
Still, some are miffed about the new policy.
"Everyone likes coming to the mall," said Jeeniva Howze, 16, of Detroit. "That's where everyone hangs out."