Since early September 2025, the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Preempted Ordinance Repeal Project has been pushing back against a new wave of "peace and good order" and "parental responsibility" ordinances in three Camden County towns: Barrington, Runnemede, and Haddonfield.
All three municipalities are confronting similar issues—homelessness, aggressive panhandling, and groups of youth roaming business districts and residential neighborhoods. But in each case, local officials have reached for broad new code provisions that risk violating people's rights and exposing taxpayers to liability if the proposals are ever enforced.
In Barrington, the Project identified constitutional defects in a proposed "parental responsibility" ordinance that presumed parents guilty if their teenagers committed a second violation of the law. In response, the Borough tabled the ordinance for redrafting.
Runnemede followed with a proposal that would resurrect pre-1979 "vagrancy" and "delinquency" language and layer it onto the Borough's existing youth curfew—an ordinance that already conflicts with state law and basic constitutional protections. The Project has contacted the Mayor and Council and is hopeful that the measure will not be adopted at the December 2 meeting.
In Haddonfield, a proposed "homelessness" ordinance would effectively make it a crime to sleep in public after dark, padded with redundant language about disorderly conduct and public urination. The Project's intervention, along with public opposition, contributed to the Borough reconsidering its approach.
Taken together, these efforts show how quickly local frustration can lead to overbroad ordinances—and how important it is to insist that real solutions respect both state law and individual liberty