Youngsters 7- and 8-years-old have been hanging out at Emma Wheeler Homes as late as 4 a.m. in the morning, Chattanooga Housing Authority members were told Tuesday.

Felix Vess, CHA’s chief of police, said East Lake Courts and other housing complexes are also having problems with youths running the streets in the middle of the night.

Having children out roaming at night is simply not safe, he said.

“There was a shooting at East Lake Courts at 1:15 a.m. this morning . . . There was a stabbing at East Lake Courts about a month ago . . . Recently we’ve had gang shootings at Emma Wheeler Homes . . . The middle of the night is not really a good time to hang out on the street,” Chief Vess said.

There is a curfew that requires that all juveniles be inside by 10:30 p.m. on school nights and by 11 p.m. when there is no school the following day, Chief Vess said.

The problem is enforcing it, he noted.

“A police officer cannot arrest an 8-year-old,” he said. “All they can do is take them to child protective services, and you know what that entails.”

Teenagers found running the streets during the middle of the night are generally picked up and transported to juvenile court, he said.

“But all they do is call their parents, and then they come and pick them up.”

The problem is unlikely to be solved unless residents of the affected housing complexes get involved, he said.

“Residents have to step up,” he said. “They have to say ‘I don’t want that person in front of my house selling dope. I don’t want them selling dope on the corner of my street.’ ”

If a resident sees a child hanging out where they shouldn’t be, he said, they need to call that child’s parents and find out why they’re out.

“When kids are hanging out that late at night, there’s an issue,” he said. “Trouble’s gonna find them.”

General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon said, "One of the last drive-by shootings that I had in court involved a 12-year-old boy who witnessed a murder. The child was playing basketball in the street at two o'clock in the morning on a school night. There is no amount of tax money, no summit, nor any innovative programs that are going to change that parental irresponsibility. Parents now have two weeks to get command of their children and prepare them for school attendance."

He said he and Judges David Bales, Johnny Houston, Sherry Paty and Christie Sell have advocated the enforcement of a Tennessee statute whereby a parent can be jailed for neglecting to compel their children to attend school.

Judge Moon said, "I have no doubt that there will be some parents going to jail this fall for neglecting the most important aspect of their child's well being, an education. The courts are for the first time in Chattanooga and Hamilton County going to be more aggressively involved in these matters."

CHA officials also said they will hire a firm to help market some CHA properties to help with a funding crisis.

Proposals will go out seeking the firm.