Politics
New Proposal Would Expand CPD’s Curfew Power to Stop Teen Gatherings
(WTTW News)
A proposal set to be introduced Wednesday to the Chicago City Council would expand the Chicago Police Department’s power to impose a curfew in an effort to stop large gatherings of teens with at least 12 hours notice.
The measure is the third attempt by Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) to expand the Chicago Police Department’s power in an attempt to deter teens from gathering in large numbers. It comes after 14-year-old Armani Floyd was killed and eight others were injured Nov. 21 during a large gathering downtown after the city’s annual Christmas tree lighting.
Mayor Brandon Johnson vetoed Hopkins’ last attempt, after it passed the City Council 27-22, calling it unconstitutional and unworkable. That plan would have allowed CPD to impose a “snap curfew,” allowing CPD to start enforcing the measure within just 30 minutes.
During the fierce debate over the proposal, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling told the federal judge overseeing the department’s efforts to comply with a court order requiring the CPD to stop routinely violating residents’ constitutional rights that he would “never use” the power to enforce a curfew with just 30 minutes notice.
Instead, Snelling promised to use that power only preemptively, to prevent the gatherings from happening at all, a goal he shares with Johnson.
Johnson has frequently said he does not believe that expanding the city’s curfew would stop teen “trends” or “takeovers,” large gatherings organized on social media and popular among teens, from turning violent.
Hopkins’ new proposal would allow Snelling to declare a pre-emptive curfew, with at least 12 hours notice, before a planned mass gathering.
The new proposal would only require Snelling to consult with Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Garien Gatewood before declaring what the measure refers to as a “time and place” curfew.
That provision prompted Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward) to drop his support for the measure that he had co-sponsored with Hopkins and join the leaders of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus in trying to stop its passage.
A close ally of Johnson and an influential member of the City Council’s Black Caucus, Ervin said that provision would ensure proper checks and balances would be in place before a snap curfew is declared.
Ervin used a parliamentary procedure Wednesday to send the proposal into legislative purgatory, preventing an immediate committee hearing and vote.
The curfew could last for no more than four hours, and there is no restriction on how large the area impacted could be.
City officials learned from social media that a gathering was planned on Nov. 21 for downtown. Chicago Public Schools officials sent an email urging parents to keep their children away from the event, while CPD assigned 700 additional officers to patrol downtown.
Eighteen people were arrested or cited for curfew violations on Nov. 21.
No one has been arrested in connection with any of the shootings.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
