LAKE VIEW, SC (WBTW) – Lake View officials approved an ordinance on Tuesday. Police believe this new curfew will help reduce criminal activities caused by teenagers.

Any juvenile out past 11 p.m. or before 6 a.m. without an adult in Lake View now will be breaking the law.

“We’ve had some mischievous things going on around town and really we decided this once we heard all the feedback from the local individuals in town,” said Mayor Elvington.

Businesses and people who live in Lake View tell News13 they’re happy to see changes being made.

“We want to protect the children. They’re someone’s children and whenever they’re out at those hours of the morning they are subject to being exposed to criminals that are older that will utilize them in committing crimes,” said police chief, Harry Watson.

Businesses that allows teens to be on its premises during curfew hours also will be breaking the law, according to the ordinance. It’s also against the law for any parent or guardian to allow a juvenile to violate the curfew.

Any parent who violates the curfew is subject to a $250 fine plus court costs and possible community service.

“My officers are instructed to do incident reports on every juvenile they deal with after hours that’s violating the curfew violation, those reports then will be turned over to the department of juvenile justice,” said Chief Watson.

Some teenagers think this will be a great idea for everyone in town.

“I wouldn’t really say I like going out into the road at night because my mom has always told me anything at night is never good,” said teenager Thomas Sanchez.

Here are defenses and exceptions outlined in the ordinance:

  1. A juvenile who is accompanied by his parent or guardian.
  2. A juvenile who is on an errand at the direction of the juvenile’s parent or guardian, without any detour or stopping.
  3. A juvenile who is in a motor vehicle involved in interstate travel.
  4. A juvenile engaged in an employment activity, or going to or returning home from an employment activity, without detour or stopping.
  5. A juvenile who is out because of a verifiable emergency of the juvenile or someone in such juvenile’s family.
  6. A juvenile who is on his residential property or property of a next=door neighbor, if the neighbor does not complain to the police department about the juvenile’s presence.
  7. A juvenile who is attending an official school, religious or other recreational activity supervised by adults and sponsored by the town, a civic organization or other entity that takes responsibility for the juvenile, or who is going to or returning home from such activity without any stop or detour.