24 May 2011
Dear Fellow 16th District Residents,
This past weekend finally brought us good weather. It also brought numerous disturbances with teens at our neighborhood parks and school playgrounds. Most of these calls and on view disturbances were very minor in nature. One new phenomenon is the unusually large number of teens that gather at one time. Texting allows our teens to instantaneously announce the new location to hang out, and what follows are large numbers of teens gathering. This in turn causes alarm to the residents who live near these parks and playgrounds.
Responding officers have found some alcohol near the locations where the teens are gathering and some of the calls for service suggest that alcohol may be involved. Three calls over the weekend were particularly disturbing; all were near St. Thecla church and School at 6323 N. Newcastle. One call was of teenagers urinating against the church wall, and there were two incidents of the newspaper recycling bins being set afire. Also, some neighbors are directly confronting the unruly teens.
To avoid future incidents, the 16th District will be patrolling the problematic locations, and will be taking enforcement action. If you are the parent, friend or neighbor of a teen, please remind them of the importance of respecting the peace of our community, the dangers of alcohol and their responsibility of being good citizens.
We encourage our teenage citizens to continue to visit our neighborhood parks and school playgrounds; we ask them to act in a responsible and respectful manner.
Sincerely,
David R. McNaughton
District Commander
16th District
(copied from an email blast sent 5/24/2011)
article in today's suntimes about the new chicago police chief looking at a plan created by philly PD that would include monitoring teen facebook and twitter social websites and even sending teens messages via twitter that the police are aware and on their way to flash mob sites.
ReplyDeleteSays to me:
1. Parents aren't aware of where their teens are.
2. Teens need more to do - jobs, activities, after school programs.
Setting fires and urinating on a church - I hope these kids and their parents are being procecuted to the FULL extent of the law. Need to nip these bad behaviors in the bud and make sure to make examples of teens who break the law.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the police are on this before it becomes completely out of control. I do agree with charging teens for crimes - no wrist slaps for setting fires, underage drinking, mob action. Send a strong no tolerance for this sh*t message.
ReplyDeleteThey should be doing their homework
ReplyDeleteThis needs to stop immediately before the behavior worsens, like the shoplifting and looting going on downtown and on Michigan Ave.
ReplyDeleteTeens need neighborhood jobs and supports. Find them jobs and this stuff goes away.
ReplyDeleteI have my kid's phone and car GPS'd and he has no clue
ReplyDeletesummer + bored teens = trouble. Any community initiatives and/or programs for teens?
ReplyDeleteI agree, part-time, summer jobs would help
ReplyDeleteSend your teens to summer school - sign them up for challenging classes with lots of homework. Keep them busy.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this commander sends out communtity alerts. He seems to work well with the community.
ReplyDeleteWork with Chicago's finest and help the neighborhood and the kids in the process. These are good kids who need a little direction and a swift kick in the ass once in a while--figuratively speaking of course.
ReplyDeleteThere needs to be a clear message sent - no tolerance for flash mobs.
ReplyDeleteI live a blk west and north of this park.There 40+ kids in this park on fri,sat nights.Not to long ago there where two teen boys with girls having sex on our friends front lawn in their bushes.They were confronted and the two boys started a fight with them instead of leaving.Police came by and arrested the friend.Ever heard of trespass?So don't come out your house,The punks are running the show.
ReplyDelete