Crime & Law
Teen Takeover Raises Questions About Public Safety, Spaces for Young People
Last week Chicago saw its first so-called teen takeover of the year. Hundreds of young people gathered in the Loop on packed sidewalks and streets, resulting in eight arrests, 24 curfew violations and renewed calls for a stricter curfew ordinance.
Mayor Brandon Johnson last year vetoed a measure that would have allowed police to impose a snap curfew earlier than 10 p.m. in an effort to curb large crowds of young people from gathering.
The Rev. Sandie Norman, community organizer and founder of the outreach group Life Beyond Limits, was present at the scene, which she described as chaotic.
“I spoke to quite a few teens,” Norman said. “I even took teens home to assist with helping them to stay out of trouble and trying to get them out of the environment. Most of the teens said that they were there to have a good time to meet up because it was spring break. … Normally when you have different teens that don’t like each other and they wind up all coming together, that’s where you have the problems that come in and the fighting. It just turns what should be peaceful into total chaos.”
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) is once again calling for snap curfew powers for police.
“The situation was out of control about an hour ago,” he wrote on social media Wednesday, referring to the takeover. “But then at 10:00pm, an order was issued for curfew enforcement. It had an immediate impact on this violent teen trend. Curfew enforcement is effective.”
The Chicago City Council passed a revised ordinance last year that would allow police to impose a curfew earlier than 10 p.m. when large, disruptive events take place. Johnson vetoed the measure, at the time saying “the easy thing to do would be to tell people that, if we threaten young people and families with severe repercussions, that somehow would make us safer. But we know from years of doing the same old tired forms of policy that it doesn’t get the results that people have longed for. It doesn’t keep us safe and it doesn’t make our city stronger.”
Meyiya Coleman, coordinator for Voices of Youth in Chicago Education at Communities United, often hears from the young people she works with that the youth mental health crisis is the root problem for poor behavior from teens.
“(The youth) they’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re not going into these communities trying to be violent. We’re going into these communities because ours isn’t safe.’ Gun violence is happening, gang violence is happening,” Coleman said. “A curfew doesn’t stop a bullet.”
Teen trends are often organized among young people on social media apps where they plan to meet up at central locations like Millennium Park, 31st Street Beach and the Magnificent Mile. When crisis and violence prevention teams, like the one Rodney Phillips leads at Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, hear or are informed about such events, they respond by being at the locations alongside law enforcement before the teenagers arrive.
The organizers build relationships with the youth and act as trusted adults, making it easier for them to intervene when issues arise.
“I believe everybody comes with good intentions,” said Phillips, associate director of crisis prevention and response at Metropolitan Peace Initiatives. “We got to realize we’re working with kids, so they don’t process and deal with things like we do. … Then you throw in alcohol, you throw in guns and have the potential for a real dangerous situation.”
The mayor’s office released the following statement after the most recent teen takeover: “Utilizing the existing curfew laws, CPD worked alongside (community violence intervention) workers present on the scene and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office to safely disperse a group of young people who had gathered downtown and restored order to the affected area. … We are confident that the City’s public safety infrastructure and current laws equip CPD with the tools needed to effectively mitigate these incidents when they cannot be prevented in advance.”
Andres Zayas, a retired Chicago police sergeant and member of the Puerto Rican Police Association board, agrees that curfews are effective but urges it’s not enough to solve the root issue.
“These are the kids that are going to take care of us when we no longer can take care of ourselves,” Zayas said. “We lost the Girls and Boys Club. We’ve lost the Boy Scouts of America. We lost all these social groups. … Why? Our youth isn’t worth it? No, I think our youth is worth it. They’re a great investment.”
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
