Pirro vows to prosecute parents of curfew violators with or without D.C. help

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Tuesday she will move ahead with plans to charge parents of juveniles who violate the city's curfew, whether or not local officials cooperate.

The three leading Democratic candidates for mayor all said during a Monday debate that they would refuse to work with Pirro on the plan. They also said they would not direct Metro Police to help enforce it.

"The truth is that I'm gonna get what I need one way or the other," Pirro told Fox News' Lawrence B. Jones on "Fox & Friends." "I'm not gonna let some politician determine whether D.C. is going to be safe. Look, the citizens of the nation's capital have the right to expect that they will be safe. In fact, they have a right to demand it."

Pirro first announced the plan last Friday. She repeated it at a Monday news conference after a large fight inside a Chipotle restaurant in the Navy Yard neighborhood was captured on video.

One of the candidates, Ward 4 Council member Janeese Lewis George, called the curfew enforcement plan dangerous. She said federal agents and troops now in the city are not trained in de-escalation and are not accountable to D.C. residents. She said the city should expand youth programs instead.

The other two candidates, Kenyan McDuffie and Gary Goodweather, also said they would not use city police resources to support Pirro's effort.

Pirro said she can still act through school truancy cases, family court orders and cases involving persons in need of supervision. She said she has spoken with the local attorney general, who indicated he will work with her office.

Mayor Muriel Bowser has backed Pirro's effort to address violent teen incidents in the city.