US Cities Announce Halloween Curfews and Crackdowns to Head Off Teen Takeovers

Cities across the United States are putting teenagers on notice for Halloween weekend, rolling out curfews and added police patrols to head off the chaos seen in so-called teen takeovers. After gatherings that drew hundreds of teens and ended in fights and arrests, officials are taking proactive steps this year.

From the Jersey Shore to suburban Atlanta, officials are setting curfews for teenagers and adding police patrols, many of them in places still reeling from earlier takeovers.

In Oak Park, Illinois, the chief of police wrote that her agency is trying to prevent a repeat of a similar Halloween teen takeover last year.

Last Halloween, an estimated 500 teens swarmed downtown Oak Park, where fights and gunshots erupted and police called in help from six neighboring agencies, according to a department memo.

Oak Park Chief of Police Shatonya Johnson said the agency will increase the number of officers on shift during Halloween, along with several more measures aimed at preventing another teen takeover.

Adults in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood are also taking matters into their own hands, planning to show out en masse on the streets to prevent large gatherings by teenagers. The group, called CollaBOOration, was established after a series of large Halloween gatherings from 2016 to 2019 turned violent, according to Block Club Chicago.

The group's founder, Bennie Currie, said they are trying to establish a critical mass on the street possibly before the Halloween festivities even start, walking up and down 53rd Street in orange shirts and keeping in contact with one another.

In Covington, Georgia, after 7 p.m. on Halloween, those under 16 will be required to go home or have an adult with them if they are in the city's downtown area, outside Atlanta.

The Long Branch, New Jersey, police department plans to strictly enforce a Halloween curfew for those under 17 on Oct. 30 and 31, running from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. The curfew was set in response to a teen takeover in May that drew hundreds of people, resulted in fights and led to six arrests.

National Police Association spokeswoman Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith called the proactive steps by cities and police departments a "great idea," saying teen takeovers are not slowing down.

Smith said that on Halloween night, call volume goes up four, five or six times, with people calling about fireworks, fights in schoolyards or children they cannot find, and large teen gatherings add further strain on police resources.