Chicago alderman again delays vote on snap teen curfew to combat takeovers
Chicago mayor speaks on teen curfew proposal as city council vote delayed
A Chicago alderman again delayed a vote on a proposal to implement snap curfews to combat so-called "teen takeovers."
CHICAGO - The Chicago City Council’s Public Safety Committee again delayed a vote on a proposal to give police the authority to impose temporary curfews for unaccompanied teenagers.
The measure is aimed at preventing so-called "teen takeovers," when large numbers of teens gather in the city, which have at times led to violent incidents.
What we know:
While the committee was expected to reconvene on Monday at 1 p.m., Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward), who chairs the panel, said there will not be a vote on the measure. Several members of the committee instead wanted to attend an event by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who was expected to announce whether she'll run for reelection in 2026.
Last Wednesday, committee members debated the issue for multiple hours before they delayed the vote on the proposal.
It's unclear when the matter will be taken up again by the Public Safety Committee.
Hopkins said a scheduled committee meeting on Friday will cover a different subject matter.
The proposed ordinance requires approval from the full City Council to become law.
The backstory:
Hopkins has been pushing for changes to the city’s curfew policy after multiple violent incidents in the city’s downtown area during such teen gatherings.
Just last March, a 46-year-old woman visiting Chicago was shot and injured while walking with her son. A 15-year-old boy was also shot and injured in the downtown area during a separate teen takeover.
Even short of the worst violence, Hopkins said the chaos that has sometimes come due to the gatherings is "traumatizing" for local residents.
"We heard from residents who've experienced it on multiple occasions, who talked about being told by their doorman, ‘Stay in your apartment. Don’t try to leave right now,'" he said during a news conference on Monday.
Hopkins also said some residents have moved out of Streeterville because of such violent occurences.
Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, attends a City Council meeting at City Hall on March 12, 2025, in Chicago. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Hopkins initially proposed changing the standing curfew for unaccompanied teens to 8 p.m. from 10 p.m. in the city’s central business district, but some, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, opposed the plan. Then, after discussions with other city officials, Hopkins pivoted to a temporary curfew proposal that would allow police to implement temporary curfews if they learned of plans for large gatherings.
Hopkins argued that the compromise proposal would better allow police to respond and prevent such gatherings from happening. He said his proposal has support from at least 30 other aldermen.
The other side:
However, civil liberties advocates and some aldermen have expressed concern about the proposal, arguing that the language of the ordinance is vague and could violate residents’ rights.
Ed Yohnka, of the ACLU of Illinois, called the proposal a "Band-Aid" solution and argued that studies show curfews aren’t effective as a policing strategy. Opponents have also argued that the Chicago Police Department already has the ability to break up gatherings that could potentially lead to criminal activity.
Hopkins expressed confidence in the Chicago Police Department's ability to uphold "constitutional policing" and said multiple lawyers have said the policy would be legal.
"We know how to do this," he said. "There is absolutely zero concern about the constitutional validity of this ordinance by every one of the attorneys that was involved in it. The only people raising constitutional concerns, they might be lawyers, but they're also anti-police political activists."