The parents anti-drug agency PRIDE plans to push for a juvenile curfew law for kids age 16 and under following shocking disclosures at a recent meeting.

A senior Police officer told members he knew of school children working for drug dealers at age 14 and burglarising homes as young as nine-years-old.

Chief Insp. Larry Smith made the disclosures in presenting his proposal for a juvenile curfew law currently in force in a number of US cities, including Atlanta and Houston.

It bars minors from being on the street between 11 p.m. and 6 a.

m.

unaccompanied by an adult and from being in bars and nightclubs.

"I am convinced it can work here,'' he said.

"Just look at the statistics involving juvenile arrests here. Kids are prostituting at age 14 and 15, and we wonder why AIDS statistics are rising.

Drugs are being sold and used by kids.'' Noting his proposal had been in the Police Commissioner's hands since last year, he urged PRIDE to lobby politicians for it to be imposed locally.

PRIDE chairperson Mrs. Pauline Richards said afterwards members supported the curfew law and nightclub ban and she planned to meet with the Liquor Licencing Authority and Health Minister about implementing them.

She expected "quite a bit of opposition to it'', she conceded. "But it's a measure that's needed to protect the ones that need protecting.'' Kids hanging out on the street after dark -- like the Devon Springs "maintain crew'' -- were the least of the Island's youth problems, according to Ch.

Insp. Smith.

He told of a case where a nine-year-old boy was arrested at 3 a.m. earlier this year for burglary.

"He may have been seen out and about that night but we didn't have the powers to stop him and send him home,'' he said. "If the curfew had been enacted the kid may have been salvaged from going before the juvenile panel.'' In Somerset, now Bermuda's "drug supermarket'' because it was considered less heavily Policed than central areas, Ch. Insp. Smith said he knew of a 14-year-old boy who drug dealers used to run drugs around the West End.

"I used to see him everyday carrying a big bag on his shoulder,'' he said.

"But until I was given certain information I had no idea what he was doing.

"He was carrying 20, 30, 50 to 100 bags of herb on any given day.

"The biggest source of income today (for the youth) is selling drugs -- it's quick money. (Parents) question your kids if they come home with excessive amounts of cash.'' Skipping school was also on the rise, he said.

One PRIDE member agreed, telling the group high schools were so overwhelmed with suspected truancy cases they were unable to follow them all up.

Ch. Insp. Smith said he saw kids in school uniform out on cycles everyday during school hours.

"Kids are leaving home to attend school but they are not going,'' he said.

"I know of a young boy who committed a string of break-ins in Warwick in the day. This was a schoolboy leaving home in full uniform and not attending school but breaking into homes.

He added the situation at the city bus terminal was also alarming.

Youngsters were "rude, cursing and carrying on'', he said.

Parents should take time out from work in the afternoon to go and see for themselves what their child was getting up to, he said.

Ch. Insp. Smith went on to note in Bermuda, under 18-year-olds could go into bars and nightclubs, they just could not buy alcoholic beverages.

However, he had learned they were still "emerging drunk'' from such establishments because they were simply getting adults to buy them cocktails and beers.

Atlanta's juvenile curfew scheme, which he had seen in action, does not permit anyone 18 to enter or remain in a nightclub or bar without their parents or guardian's written consent.

And it is unlawful for anyone 15-years-old or younger to wander or hang out in Atlanta's streets -- even restaurants -- from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. without an adult. Provision is made for emergency situations and gainful employment during those hours.

Bermuda might want to increase the age to which the curfew applies to 16 or 17-years-old, Ch. Insp. Smith suggested.

The curfew law would serve to erase Bermudians thinking that "99.9.

percent'' of the Island's problems were Police problems, he felt.

It would also help "give parents back their authority'' he said. They would be helped in putting their foot down on their kids going to nightclubs or hanging out.

The law would also help improve Police community relations, he said. He explained the way the curfew law worked was if a child breached it, he or she was taken home by Police and given a warning along with the parent.

The second time, the parent and child would get a written citation. The third time, they were brought before a court or juvenile panel.

"The primary objective of this law is child safety not just to round up the kids and take them home,'' he said.

Ch. Insp. Smith added that the law would not be able to be implemented in Bermuda without a full Police Force.

"We need to be at maximum strength -- it will not be implemented until there are a full 489 Police officers out on the street.

He noted curfew laws were "rampant'' in American cities and the Caribbean was now taking an interest in imposing them.