MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Myrtle Beach City Council changed the juvenile curfew on Tuesday in order to help prevent crime in the city.
Anyone 17 years old or younger is no longer allowed to be out alone after midnight. A parent or guardian must accompany them if they are going to be out in the city between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. Previously, the curfew hours were from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.
City leaders started discussing moving the curfew up an hour earlier immediately after video of a shooting on Ocean Boulevard went viral last month. That shooting was one of several that weekend.
Even though the curfew has only changed by one hour, Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes said he’s confident that change, along with about 200 new city street lights, will have an impact on public safety. “We’ve noticed that the crimes that we’ve had, that have been through young people, have all been after midnight. We feel that taking it back to midnight will help us move in the right direction in solving this problem,” said Mayor Rhodes.
Rhodes also said Myrtle Beach Police will arrest any minor caught without a guardian between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.
