Chicago City Council panel OKs revised teen curfew with longer notice window

Chicago City Council panel OKs revised curfew proposal with longer notice window

A revised curfew plan aimed at curbing teen group violence was advanced during the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Public Safety on Wednesday.

CHICAGO - A revised curfew plan aimed at curbing teen group violence was advanced during the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Public Safety on Wednesday.

The full City Council will need to approve the measure for it to go into law.

The same committee did not pass a separate but related proposed ordinance that would fine social media companies for failing to remove threatening posts that encourage bad behavior.

What we know:

Ald. Brian Hopkins’ (2nd Ward) new proposal would let police issue a temporary "time and place" curfew in any public space, but only after giving the public at least 12 hours’ notice.

Hopkins said the longer window is a key change from his earlier plan, which would have allowed police to declare a curfew in as little as 30 minutes.

"You would need at least 12 hours from the time a decision is made to impose a temporary time and place curfew, to the start time that curfew would take effect," Hopkins previously told FOX Chicago.

Other alders who support the curfew argued that more needs to be done to continue the city's violent crime rate down.

"This is a (teen) curfew that we need for the longest time," said Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd Ward). "We've seen a lot of teen takeovers happen in downtown and in other parts of the city. I think it's needed because it gives accountability for young people that there are consequences."

Chicago alderman proposes new curfew

Chicago Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) is back with another curfew proposal — one that would give police the authority to declare curfews at any public space, at any time of day, to curb teen group violence. And he says this proposal is different than a “snap curfew."

The earlier version faced strong pushback from civil liberties groups, including the ACLU, and from Mayor Brandon Johnson. Hopkins said the new draft is meant to address those concerns and potentially gain the mayor’s support.

"In most of the cases we've had this curfew conversation, we've had at least 12 hours of notice, so we really didn't need the 30-minute window," he said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said on Wednesday he was not sure whether he'd veto the newest measure if it passes the full City Council. He vetoed the previous version of a teen curfew, which aldermen failed to override.

When asked about the idea, Johnson said he wasn't against a curfew for teens in general.

"There's a 10 p.m. curfew that has been on the books for some time," he said. "I've never been opposed to that."

He added, "Now let me be absolutely clear. What I'm opposed to giving unilateral control to one entity of government to make a determination in a snap notice that could be a violation to people's civil rights."

The backstory:

The update comes after the November killing of 14-year-old Armani Floyd during a teen takeover in the Loop, which unfolded the same night as the city’s annual Christmas tree lighting. 

Hopkins said police saw signs on social media more than 12 hours before the gathering and argued a temporary curfew could have helped prevent the violence.

He pointed to the enforcement of the existing 10 p.m. curfew that night as an example of what earlier intervention can do.

"They started making announcements about 20 minutes before they started enforcing the curfew. Some of the teens heard the announcements and decided to leave. The ones that didn't, we started making curfew apprehensions. It had a quelling effect on the violence. It actually worked," Hopkins said.