Curfew now includes 17-year-olds

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - Portsmouth City Council voted Tuesday night to include 17-year-olds in an 11 p.m. city-wide curfew.

"When I was growing up in the city of Portsmouth, we had to be in the house by 9 o'clock," Portsmouth Vice Mayor Charles Whitehurst said.

The curfew will not be as stringent as the one Whitehurst remembers, and Portsmouth teens said they would not mind having a curfew.

"People are getting into these gangs and doing drugs and stuff so I think 11 o'clock should be like the curfew," 16-year-old Isaiah Benton said.

Other teens agree with Benton. The curfew includes 17-year-olds who are outside by themselves, not those returning to work. Minors who are out in public without an adult or written permission from a parent between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. will be picked up and taken home.

"You never know what goes on after 11 o'clock," 16-year-old Kimesha Watson said. "A lot of people have been getting shot or killed lately these days and I think it helps the younger people out too."

Whitehurst believed the proposal would overwhelmingly pass.

"I'd like to see them bring the 9 o'clock [curfew]" Whitehurst said.