That's a distinct possibility, but you have to wonder, if the outcome is so obvious, why would the city council approve such a measure? Personally I think that there's still a lot to be learned about what kind of policing is actually effective these days. I understand that the research doesn't necessarily insist that any one approach has been proven best. Broken windows, community policing, and everything in-between have their advocates among serious criminologists.

It may well be the case that for this specific moment in the history of urban America, these kinds of curfews give police an opportunity to keep order. Obviously that may result in civil friction, especially where regular people get swept up in the drag net, but I've heard serious people start to wonder what ought to be done if these kinds of tactics won't work.