Overview
- An updated draft lets police issue a 30-minute warning to disperse before citations, requires officers to ask a person’s age and reason for being out, and still permits arrests for failure to disperse.
- Ald. Brian Hopkins discussed the proposal in the Public Safety Committee but did not call it for a vote, leaving the measure in committee for further revision.
- Hopkins says Mayor Brandon Johnson is collaborating on the latest language, though Johnson has previously voiced opposition over civil-rights concerns and police authority.
- The ordinance targets what it defines as “disruptive youth gatherings” of three or more minors likely to commit disorderly conduct or cause harm, adding a formal “dispersal declaration” to the existing curfew policy.
- Youth organizers and the ACLU of Illinois urged rejection of the plan in favor of year-round programs and services, while supporters point to recent teen violence, including a fatal shooting tied to the city’s tree-lighting.