Ald. Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes much of downtown Chicago, deserves the city’s thanks for striving repeatedly to find a means that will pass muster with our mayor to control mobs of teens who “take over” the Loop and cause mayhem and sometimes death.
The issue has resurfaced with the downtown shooting death of a 14-year-old last month after the annual tree-lighting ceremony. With two days’ notice that a large teen gathering was planned, police appeared to take all the right steps to keep things under control. But tragedy ensued anyway.
We think Ald. Hopkins finally has hit on the right way of giving the Chicago Police Department the tools it needs to stop these mob events before they get started. A new proposed ordinance he filed earlier this week would allow CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling, in consultation with Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Garien Gatewood, to declare four-hour curfews for minors within discrete areas with at least 12 hours’ advance notice.
Recall that an earlier Hopkins initiative to give Snelling powers to declare “snap” teen curfews passed the City Council but was vetoed by Mayor Brandon Johnson. Even Snelling at the time said he didn’t need the ability to impose curfews with almost no notice in order to disperse teen mobs. And, though we urged Johnson to sign the snap curfew, we’ve been squeamish, too, at the prospect that young people not part of these planned gatherings could get caught up accidentally in the police actions.
The minimum 12-hour lead time Hopkins now is proposing gives minors and their parents more than ample warning to stay away from a specific part of the city at a specific time. Arrests for curfew violations, rather than for failing to respond to dispersal orders outside of curfew hours, don’t go on teens’ records and thus don’t affect anyone’s future prospects. Those arrested are held until picked up by a parent or someone else responsible for them.
As Hopkins explained to us, police are reluctant to arrest teens who gather in mobs for fear precisely of having those arrests recorded for posterity. But police are more willing to arrest those who violated curfew.
Indeed, Hopkins said, the officers on the awful night of the tree-lighting waited until 10 p.m., when the city’s ordinary teen curfew begins, to make arrests. Once a few of the mob leaders had been arrested, the others quickly scattered, Hopkins said. But for nearly an hour before that point, police struggled to get the scene under control.
Hopkins’ explanation and his proposed method of addressing the problem make perfect sense to us. And they should make perfect sense, too, to the mayor. He’s likely again to have to decide whether to veto this latest curfew plan. Hopkins believes he’ll have more than 30 aldermen voting yes on his ordinance, but likely not the required 34 to override a veto.
He’s optimistic Johnson will find this version more palatable than the earlier effort.
Unfortunately, Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, immediately moved to consign Hopkins’ proposal to the Rules Committee, where proposed ordinances famously “go to die.” There’s too much support for this measure to stay in the Rules Committee, but the maneuver does mean there will be some delay. That’s unfortunate.
All involved, including the mayor, agree these teen takeovers are a hazard. The mayor should signal quickly that he supports this version of the curfew, and the council should pass it as soon as possible.
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