Thus far, there haven’t been any teen takeover incidents in Orland Park, but village officials are taking steps to thwart the possibility of it happening in their community.
According to village officials, DuPage County and some north suburbs are experiencing problems with takeovers and violence and Orland Park is changing some of the current codes in its books to try to prevent that. The changes include warnings to parents that they, too, could be punished for their children’s actions.
“We now have the code in place before the events happen instead of scrambling to try to fit a resolution or a response to an incident into existing codes that didn’t think this through,” Orland Park Mayor James Dodge said during the village’s Oct. 5 Committee of the Whole meeting before the board vote. “I’m pretty sure we are constantly monitoring for these things, and we now have some enabling ordinances that include parental responsibility and we’re going to step up our communication to Orland Park.
“This goes back to a quality of life in Orland Park-type of issue.”
The right for Dodge and Police Chief Eric Rossi to call for curfews during potential incidents is a part of the ordinance but Trustee Dina Lawrence wanted residents to know that the curfew is not all-encompassing.
“The curfew doesn’t necessarily extend to the whole town,” she said. “It might just extend to a certain neighborhood or a certain park area.
“The village residents don’t have to worry that, ‘gosh, if kids on one side of town are getting a little rowdy, I don’t have to worry about the whole town and my kids being involved if we are on the other end of town.’’’
Village Manager George Koczwara said this gives police flexibility.
“It’s a surgical tool for the police,” Koczwara said. “In all likelihood, if there is a teen takeover, it’s happening somewhere like the mall or some shopping area.
“The chief of police can designate that area and then if they don’t disperse, the police take them in.
There was some debate at a previous meeting on how long curfews or other civil emergencies could be extended without board approval.
The code allows the curfew to last until the next board meeting, but the board could call a special meeting if needed.
“The mayor confirms with the chief of police and based on that information, the mayor has the ability to approve a civil emergency declaration,” Koczwara said. “That was already on our books and that doesn’t change.”
The village manager emphasized that the changes for these codes are to keep the possibilities of teen takeovers from happening.
“The main purpose of this is the teen takeover,” he said. “It places a curfew policy for minors and it’s another tool in the toolbox for police. They can do instant curfews for teens. And it also includes a parental responsibility section. It’s not just the teen who is responsible, it will be the parents as well.
“These are the laws in Orland Park and we will follow them.”
