Chicago leaders seek curfew to curb teen street takeovers

CHICAGO (WGN) – As summer approaches, city leaders are hard at work on a safety plan for potential teen street takeovers.

A vote to give police the power to quickly enact a curfew is expected next month.

On Memorial Day, Chicago’s Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Garien Gatewood attended a service in Grant Park, but his mind was on planned teen takeovers.

“A lot of this comes with conversations with the folks who are posting these teen trends and trying to get ahead of that, and then making sure that we have adequate resources in place ahead of the time that they’re scheduled to be there, so that we can welcome them with open arms,” Gatewood said. “So one, to make sure they understand they are welcome, but two, to also understand that we want everybody to be safe.”

The spontaneous large-scale gatherings are growing in number and are not always safe. According to Gatewood, his office is aware of at least five teen takeovers over the last week.

“When you see there’s a posting that there will be a takeover, a gathering, what happens then?” WGN-TV Political Reporter Tahman Bradley asked.

“So we reach out to the poster if we have that contact information. We’ll reach out to that poster to get a sense of what’s happening there. If we know what school they’re in, we’ll reach out to the schools. As you may have seen, Chicago Public Schools and the police department and also parks have been sending out letters when we know trends are happening to let parents know, to let families know. Again, we want you to have fun, but we want you to be safe,” Gatewood answered.

Gatewood added when CPD’s Chief of Patrol gets word of a takeover, he repositions police while city agencies deploy community groups to the scene, but members of City Council are pushing for CPD to have more power. They want the superintendent, working in concert with Gatewood, to be able to declare a snap curfew.

Last week, allies of Mayor Brandon Johnson delayed a vote on the plan for reasons unknown.

Gatewood was asked if he wants CPD Supt. Larry Snelling to have the power to declare a curfew, to which he said, “Well, what I want is for citizens to be safe. I want young folks to be safe.”

“Those out of control scenes like what we saw in Streeterville, can you guarantee that’s not going to happen again?” Bradley asked.

“Well, no. I can’t guarantee anything like that, Tahman, but what I can guarantee you is that we’re going to work together,” Gatewood replied.

Gatewood believes they can’t stop young people from congregating, but the right mix of police and community ambassadors can keep large gatherings safe.