The loitering bill proposed this week in Montgomery County is facing some of the same criticisms as the proposed youth curfew it is intended to replace — that it would violate civil liberties and that it is unnecessary. Introduced by Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville, who has been a vocal opponent of a curfew, the bill would prohibit “loitering or prowling,” defined as being in a public place “in a manner not usual for law-abiding persons under circumstances that warrant a justifiable and reasonable alarm.”

Unlike the curfew, the bill punishes behavior, not assembly, which is constitutionally protected, said Andrews, who chairs the council’s public safety committee. It also allows police to stop potential crimes even if the perpetrators are over the age of 18 or in public before 11 p.m.