Oak Park’s curfew ordinance isn’t supposed to have much leeway, according to Police Chief Rick Tanksley, but a recent incident involving five Oak Park teens brought a group of frustrated parents to a village board meeting to vent their concerns.
A group of boys, all about 13, were out one summer night an hour and eight minutes past curfew, the parents claim, and stopped in at a 7-Eleven on the way to a friend’s house. Two cops happened to be at the shop and as a result, the teens were each issued a curfew violation and their parents were called to pick them up.
Patrick Somers, a parent of one of the boys, said when parents arrived they were assured the ticketing was simply a formality, or a “slap on the wrist” and there wouldn’t be much punishment associated with it. Somers, along with the other parent, however, were shocked when their kids were each issued 24 hours of community service that had to be followed up with an essay on what they learned.
“It was just kind of shocking to the parents,” Somers said, who suggested the process was over the top. A criminal defense lawyer himself, the Oak Park dad did some digging around and requested Freedom of Information Acts on 18 months’ worth of curfew violations, and all except three were thrown out, according to his research.
According to the ordinance, a person under the age of 18 cannot be out during specified hours unless accompanied and supervised by a parent, legal guardian or other responsible companion who is at least 21 and approved by a parent or guardian. Curfew hours are in effect from after midnight to 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, and from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday to Thursday.
Tanksley said the curfew ordinance is “one of a few areas in which (officers) have very little discretion.” He noted there are exceptions to the ordinance — coming to, going from, or attending an official school, religious, or recreation activity supervised by adults and sponsored by the village. Another exception is exercising First Amendment rights.
Other than that, minors out past curfew are to be cited. Tanksley said if an officer encounters a minor and fails to cite them and contact their parents and something happens to the person later on, the liability falls back on the officer and the department.
“Also, parents need to know where their kids are and what they’re doing,” he said.
Parents explained the case for their kids to the adjudication judge at the administration hearing, Somers said, but each of the kids received the same punishment, which he called “outrageous” for the type of violation. A parent spoke of another case that was heard right before theirs where a teenager had stolen something and held an unruly party and was sentenced to just 12 more hours of community service than the curfew violators.
“It’s a failure to identify the proper people to do the job,” Somers claimed.
Once Somers found out the punishment would be picking up trash along the highway, similar to what he said people are issued at the Cook County criminal level, he was more upset. He also suggested the curfew statute itself needs reworking in how it’s applied.
“It was really just an innocent thing,” he said. “We weren’t going to stand still.”
Each kid was issued the same punishment, regardless of circumstance, and he said every appeal is $300, making it difficult for parents who want to appeal.
Three other parents spoke during the public comment portion of the Oct. 15 board meeting, all of whom said they couldn’t understand the purpose of overly punishing good kids. Although they all agreed the kids were out after curfew, they didn’t see the need for the “harsh” punishment. Parents suggested allocating village resources on such petty instances is a waste.
“It’s really not getting rid of the punishment, we get that,” said parent Beth Ann Brozo at the meeting. “It felt just very punitive — even for the adults that were not there. [Our kids] were obviously not very hard criminals.”
After the parents made their case in front of the board, Village President David Pope acknowledged the claims and suggested the measure be directed to staff to be reviewed for further updates on this specific case.