Ahead of a weekend of pleasant weather in the Chicago area with summer quickly approaching, Chicago police joined other city officials in announcing public safety plans for the summer.
Police were specifically asked on how they plan to respond to potential future "teen takeovers" in a Friday afternoon press conference after a heavily scrutinized police response to teen-led disturbances in the Loop last month.
City officials pointed to increased bag checks at beaches and Millennium Park in addition to an increased police presence as measures being taken to prevent such events in the future.
Brian McDermott, the Chief of Patrol for the Chicago Police Department, elaborated on how the department plans to combat downtown disturbances after last month's instances.
McDermott mentioned that this is not a new obstacle for the department to deal with.
"You know, we saw the same types of events last year. You know, we continue to learn the last couple of weeks when these events occur," McDermott said.
He added that April's teen takeovers were a "perfect storm" of events that threw the police response off guard.
Local
"We didn't have any information that teens were gonna show up when they did show up. It took us a while to mobilize our resources. So moving forward, we have put some additional plans in place to ensure that that doesn't happen. We will have a contingent of additional resources downtown at all times. You know in the event that the teens do show up, we'll be ready to play quicker," McDermott told reporters.
McDermott added that CPD has planned extensively with the CTA, CPS and Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications to develop plans to ensure that police protection will be rightfully allocated to both downtown areas and other neighborhoods in need in the event of disturbances.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
The Chief of Patrol also told reporters that the department can do a better job of identifying which individuals are engaged in criminal activity in the event of future disturbances, saying that he doesn't believe that "anyone here is suggesting that we go out and lock up every teen dancing on the street."
McDermott reiterated that bag check and curfew policies will play a role in improving safety, while saying that the execution of their plans may still look "chaotic."
"If we have 500 to 1,000 teens run around downtown, you know, we could have the best plan in place, but it's still going to look pretty chaotic. But I think we could do a better job of managing the resources and taking the right individuals into custody and trying to keep people safe downtown," McDermott said.
For safety information, alerts and preparedness tips, you can download the Office of Emergency Management and Communications' app.
