Columbus Council considering new curfew for unaccompanied minors downtown
During its meeting Tuesday night, the Columbus Council is scheduled to consider implementing a curfew for unattended minors in downtown after the Columbus Police Department recorded over 400 incidents in that part of the city, dating back to 2025.
The curfew would make it unlawful, except for certain exemptions, for anyone under the age of 18 to be in any public place, street, sidewalk, park, parking garage or other public area from Eighth Street to 14th Street and between Second Avenue and Bay Avenue from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. each day.
The ordinance wouldn’t apply to minors who:
- Are accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or other adult having the lawful care and custody of the minor
- Engaged in lawful employment or traveling to or from employment
- Attending to traveling to or from a school-sponsored, civic, religious or other approved organized activity
- A current Columbus State University student and housed in the Uptown Columbus area
- Attending or traveling directly to or from an activity exercising the First Amendment rights protected under the U.S. Constitution
- Staying at a hotel or lodging facility in the area.
Any parents, legal guardians or other adults having custody or control of any child under the age of 18 will be held responsible if the minor is found to be violating the curfew. Adults convicted of violating the ordinance would be punished with a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to 90 days or both, in accordance with Sec. 1-8 in the city code.
This ordinance was requested by Uptown Columbus, the nonprofit organization that promotes downtown businesses.
Attached to the proposed ordinance is data from the Columbus Police Department that shows 434 cases and resulting in 331 arrests in the area over the past year.
Cases included domestic incidents, burglary, fights and driving under the influence (DUI).
“It has been the observation of law enforcement officials, business owners, and other goodwill ambassadors in the District that a large number of the incidents occur in the evening hours and are associated with the presence of a large number of unsupervised juveniles who appear to be dropped off and left in the District during the evening hours,” reads the ordinance.
The council’s first reading of this proposed ordinance comes the same day the Columbus Police Department issued a news release about this problem, saying the “behavior will not be tolerated.”
“Often, these disturbances can quickly escalate into more serious incidents,” the release says. “Early intervention and parental involvement remain critical in preventing larger problems before they occur.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 4:44 PM.
