NORFOLK - In two weeks, if you're under 18, you'll have to have an adult with you to be in MacArthur Center in the evenings.
Officials say it's in the interest of customers' comfort and safety.
"Over the past year we have had a significant number of youth in the center during the evenings without adult supervision," said Jim Wofford, general manager of MacArthur Center, a one-million-square-foot regional shopping center in Hampton Roads.? "When you have such a large amount of unsupervised youth together, it is difficult to provide a safe environment - safety must always be our number one priority."
Beginning October 19 at 5:00 p.m., anyone under 18 must be with a supervising adult of at least age 21.
"There is heightened awareness everywhere concerning the safety of children and teens, which is reflected in our new program," Wofford added.
Here's how the program works. A public safety officer will approach the person believed to be under age, make sure they know about the program and ask for the person's identification. If they're 18 or over, all's fine.
Video: Teen restrictions coming to MacArthur Center
The officers will have radios and will send out a description to other officers so the same person isn't repeatedly stopped.
If the person is under 18, the officer will establish whether they're with person 21 or over and reconnect them and then remind them they need to be in the vicinity of each other.
If the underage person is alone, the officer will determine how the teen got to the mall and call a parent/guardian or someone to pick up the youngsters and the officer will wait with the youth until they're picked up.
Wofford says Regal Cinemas has partnered with the program, so no tickets for showings after 5:00 p.m. will be sold to a teen without a supervising 21-year-old.
If a ticket was sold before the 5:00 p.m. curfew for a later showing and the teen tries to get in, the ticket will be refunded and he'll be asked to leave, Wofford explained.
Officials say they created the program after studying programs at shopping centers across the country to see what did and didn't work. Programs reviewed include Mall of America, centers in Cleveland, OH and Georgia and two Taubman Company's properties - Fairlane outside Detroit, Michigan and Northlake in Charlotte, NC.
"Beginning today for the next two weeks, we will have greeters at every entrance handing out brochures to explain the program as an introduction, if you will," Wofford said.
Initially, there will be additional public safety officers in the mall. He says other centers found that, over time, everyone knows the program and the need to identify habitual offenders goes away.
Wofford says the new policy is not in reaction to recent troubles at nearby Waterside Festival Marketplace, saying the ideas been discussed for a year or so.
"Sometimes, with the numbers of unsupervised youth in the center, it can be a little intimidating," he stated, adding that the policy is about the safety of youth and customers.
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