Alamogordo Commissioners pass curfew ordinance, table truancy for revision

At a Dec. 5 Alamogordo City Commission meeting, city officials approved two ordinances and tabled a third meant to keep Alamogordo's children safe.

The ordinances touched on loitering, truancy and curfews. All were proposed in the aftermath of the shooting death of a Chaparral Middle School student at Oregon Park in October. The boy was killed by a 17-year-old, law enforcement alleged. City officials pointed to the congregation of children in public places before, during and after school hours as a contributing factor.

Commissioners approve curfew amendments

Commissioners unanimously approved amendments to the city's curfew ordinance, raising the age of children it applied to from 16 to 18, adding language allowing children in violation to be detained and holding parents and guardians accountable for violations.

The ordinances’ curfew hours are unchanged ― 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight to 6 a.m., Friday and Saturday.

More:Is your kid at home or school? Alamogordo rules would make it your responsibility to know

City Attorney Ashley Smith proposed changes — adding “detain and investigate" — making it easier for officers to find out why curfew was broken and for Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD) to hold the child while finding the parents.

Parents and guardians face fines under the new ordinance. The first offense a parent or guardian would receive a warning, then a $500 fine each time after that.

Ordinance governing truancy tabled by Alamogordo Commission

The Alamogordo City Commission tabled a proposed ordinance that would hold parents accountable for keeping their child in school during school hours.

“We had a stakeholder meeting Monday, Dec. 4, with various law enforcement agencies, public schools, juvenile probation,” Alamogordo Mayor Susan Payne said. “I learned a lot, I learned more from the public schools in maybe less than 10 minutes than I have since I’ve been trying really hard to reach out to them about this.”

More:Alamogordo mayor says students gathering at Oregon Park 'problematic'

Payne said as a result of the meeting the vote on the truancy ordinance was tabled to be revisited as an ordinance on parks allowing for trespassing citations to be issued at the Commission's next meeting Jan. 9 .

“The idea with this truancy ordinance I think it was a little misleading because I think people thought we were going to regulate truancy and that really was not the purpose,” Payne said. “The purpose of this was if nobody is going to regulate truancy, and apparently based on state law it is nearly impossible, then we need to limit the city's liability.”

The Alamogordo Daily News contacted officials at Alamogordo Public Schools about its thoughts on the changes but did not receive a response.

Keeping kids out of arroyos, irrigation channels

Ordinance 1688, meant to prevent “unauthorized presence in drainage channels, arroyos and irrigation channels” was passed by the City Commission unanimously, 7-0.

“One of the things brought up was that juveniles, along with other people, have been going into our ditches and vandalizing, graffitiing stuff and just hanging out there,” Smith said. “This ordinance is in response to that, a complete overhaul of this ordinance. The original only involved people who were driving in our ditches and arroyos whereas this encompasses a lot more.”

Smith said the ordinances makes it unlawful for anyone to enter or hang out in ditches, arroyos, drainage canals, irrigation canals or piping.

No trespassing signs would warn people to stay away, and allows for a criminal trespass citation to be issued against violators. Any one under 18 years of age would be cited and referred to the juvenile probation office.

Commissioner of District 4 Josh Rardin asked how the ordinance would apply to young children who do not intend to trespass. City Manager Stephanie Hernandez said children should not be playing in the ditches at all, as flash flooding is always a danger.

“This was at the request of both Alamogordo Police Chief (David) Kunihiro and the Juvenile Probation Office, this was a collaborated effort,” Hernandez said. “A kid should not be playing in a ditch because its unsafe. They’re not going to arrest all the kids. There is still officer discretion with that but it’s not just juveniles.”

Hernandez said the local police department often receives calls about homeless people and other people loitering in those areas.

Juan Corral can be reached at JCorral@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter at @Juan36Corr.