The shooting incidents a few weeks ago that disrupted the Dogwood Festival, Downtown Fayetteville’s most anticipated Springtime event, have triggered a plethora of misguided assumptions and solutions to addressing crime in our community. Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin’s response to this recent shooting incident was to initiate recommendations for a youth curfew, along with other placebo-style regulations, like banning face masks and backpacks on city property and during city-sponsored events (say goodbye to Fourth Fridays & Fayetteville After Five). Soviet style surveillance cameras, license-plate readers, and sophisticated facial recognition technology, and increasing the Crime Stoppers reward to $5,000 will only encourage criminals to snitch on other criminals. Honestly, Colvin’s quick response to target Fayetteville’s youth as the catalyst of this crime crisis is misguided, and makes his rash recommendations resonate more like the foundation of his campaign re-election speech.
Defying reason and common sense, the City Council in their infinite wisdom voted 8 to 2 for Colvin’s citywide youth curfew, with only councilmen Mario Benavente and Deno Hondros voting against it. Mario B articulated his concerns clearly and questioned the curfews' effectiveness, the complex logistics of curfew enforcement, and, more importantly, the negative impact they would have on young people who would be introduced prematurely to the criminal justice system. He also reminded the council that of all the homicides this year in Fayetteville, only one juvenile was arrested for attempted murder, and that an imposed youth curfew would not have deterred any of them.
Mario B was the voice of reason. In the council’s haste to make it look like they are being responsive to the escalating shooting issues, they have failed to consider Fayetteville’s history of rejecting youth curfews in the city for many reasons, especially the negative impact additional community surveillance would have on restricting civil liberties. Ironically, Colvin wants Fayetteville’s curfew ordinance to be modeled after that of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's curfew ordinance. Really? It makes you wonder who at City Hall vetted that program?
Most likely, it was the same people who hired contractor Muhammad Muhammad to build the Fayetteville City Parks & Rec Tennis Complex, and the sidewalks on Rosehill Rd... or the construction company that built the new Fire Station on Bragg Blvd. I don’t mean to be facetious, but it doesn’t take that much to be diligent and prudent when it comes to making decisions that impact the entire community. To my point, Charlotte’s curfew ordinance was adopted in 2011 and is extremely complex and begs the question of how to implement proper and effective enforcement. Even more importantly, is the fact that after 14 years, Charlotte officials readily admit they have no data or concrete evidence that can support the curfew ordinance had any effect on reducing crime. However, the cost of implementing the program is readily available.
Curfew ordinances cannot take the place of parental responsibilities. Parents and adult guardians are responsible for protecting young people from victimization and exposure to criminal activity. Ordinances should promote the safety and welfare of all citizens without violating or restricting their rights or freedoms. Curfews do not reduce crime, and there is little evidence that curfews are even effective in addressing the root causes of juvenile crime. Using the city of Charlotte as a model may be convenient, but I doubt it is prudent. Data available and collected in 2025 indicated that Charlotte has a higher average rate of both violent and property crimes compared to other cities in North Carolina. (Google it.)
City Councilman Mario B’s insights are logical and well thought out. He brings a much-needed thread of common sense, logic, and caution to the consideration of using youth curfews as a means to curb Fayetteville shootings, crime, and overall gun violence.
I’ll conclude by saying the Fayetteville community would benefit greatly if our elected officials handled serious municipal challenges with less pompous grandstanding and emotional knee jerk reactions, and spent more time listening to more concerned citizens. Youth advocate Tony Brown, Fayetteville resident Justin Herbe, and Bishop McNeil, a respected and active Fayetteville community organizer who understands that reducing crime and addressing public safety in Fayetteville cannot come from restricting a young person’s civil liberties or implementing proven failed measures like youth curfews.
Like Bishop McNeil, we feel Fayetteville’s elected officials should direct their attention, money, and efforts to projects and programs that have the potential to eliminate violence and crime, like treating mental illness, affordable housing and job training, and opportunities. Listen to Mario B. Curfews don’t work!
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