Santa Maria city curfew ends Monday morning

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Santa Maria City leaders are calling their week-long curfew successful.

It was announced the day after people tried to break into the town center mall hours after a George Floyd protest ended.

"It went very well. We treated it as another tool in the toolbox. We saw it was occurring in other communities many of which did have curfews and we monitored the situation here in Santa Maria," said Mark van de Kamp with the City of Santa Maria.

In order to help protect the city’s residents and businesses from violence, the city instated a curfew that ended Monday morning.

"Our Police Department took the same approach with the curfew as with wearing masks which is one of education and if we saw someone who is out of compliance we would speak with them and ask them to comply," said van de Kamp.

The city has decided not to extend the curfew because everything has continued to be peaceful.

"We have a great community. People understood the need for it. I personally answered several questions from businesses and we posted on our website and they found that very helpful," said van de Kamp.

Managers with the Santa Maria Town Center mall say since last week’s attempted break in, they too are pleased with how everything is running.

"The week went really well. It open without incident. It was safe and smooth and everybody was having a great time. And it was really wonderful to see everybody," said Kristen LaGrange with the Santa Maria Town Center.

Macy's which shut down due to vandalism last week is also finally back open.

While there is currently no curfew in Santa Maria, the city hopes the community will continue to work together safely.