County sees reduction in crime with curfew

The countywide curfew goes in effect from sunset until sunrise.

Since it was imposed last Thursday, a preliminary count of more than 40 people have been arrested for violating the dusk-till-dawn curfew.

Sunday night, Huntsville had six reported burglaries and 17 curfew arrests. Madison city had five reported burglaries and one arrest, while the county saw one burglary and no reported curfew arrests.

Madison County officials imposed the curfew Thursday afternoon, which goes into effect 30 minutes after sundown and 30 minutes before sunrise.

“It was for public safety,” said Huntsville Police spokesperson Dr. Harry Hobbs.

Those who have cause to be out, such as medical emergencies, public workers and those going to and from work, need to have a valid excuse. All others will be cited, Hobbs said.

“The curfew has been a wonderful tool for law enforcement,” said Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey. “It allows us to put our resources where they need to be. If it weren’t for the curfew, with the city being blacked out, the majority of our officers would be responding to accidents and directing traffic. We couldn’t focus our resources where they need to be.”

The good news is since the curfew went into effect, it only made things better,” Hobbs said. “We had a slight spike when we initially went through the crisis, but as soon as we implemented the curfew, we went down to normal levels.”

However, one person has been killed in a looting attempt.. A man in his 20s was fatally shot Thursday night by a gas station employee. Hobbs said the man was attempting to take items from the store when the employee, said to be the store’s owner, shot him. The man was pronounced dead at Huntsville Hospital.