Police departments across the country are preparing for a different kind of Halloween threat this weekend: large, often chaotic street takeovers involving cars or crowds of teenagers that have become a recurring holiday problem in several cities.
From the Jersey Shore to suburban Atlanta, local authorities are imposing curfews on minors and adding extra patrols as they try to head off the kind of disruptive gatherings that have drawn hundreds of young people and, in some cases, turned violent.
Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith of the National Police Association told Fox News that departments need to take a more proactive approach this year, noting that street takeovers have not slowed down. “On Halloween night, I can tell you from experience, our call volume goes up — you know, four or five, six times — because people are calling… because of fireworks,” Brantner Smith said.
Fireworks and other pyrotechnics are frequently part of the car-based takeovers known as “side shows” or “meetups,” in which drivers spin doughnuts in intersections while crowds gather dangerously close, some hanging out of windows and sunroofs. Participants often record the scenes for social media. A separate type of takeover, typically involving teenagers rather than cars, draws large crowds into commercial areas and has at times led to looting and violence.
Oak Park Remembers Last Year’s Chaos
In Oak Park, Illinois, police are working to avoid a repeat of last Halloween, when roughly 500 teenagers swarmed the downtown area and fistfights and gunfire broke out, according to a department memo. Six neighboring departments had to send help that night.
Oak Park Police Chief Shatonya Johnson said the department is increasing the number of officers on duty for this year’s Halloween shift and putting additional public safety measures in place.
In the nearby community of Hyde Park, residents are planning to head off large gatherings themselves. The founder of a community group called “ollaBOOration,” formed after previous holiday street-takeover violence, said volunteers intend to occupy the area before trouble can start.
“What we’re really trying to do is establish a critical mass on the street, possibly before the Halloween festivities even start. So, when these large gatherings happen, like we’ve seen every year, we will already have taken over 53rd Street… We’ll be walking up and down in orange shirts and keeping in contact with one another.”
Curfews in Georgia and New Jersey
According to CBS News, Covington, Georgia, will require teens under 16 to be home or accompanied by an adult if they are in the downtown area of the Atlanta metro region after 7 p.m. on Halloween.
In Long Branch, New Jersey, police plan to strictly enforce a curfew for residents under 17 from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Oct. 31, local news outlets reported.
A Model From Los Angeles
Some departments may be drawing on an operation the Los Angeles Police Department carried out in September, when it assembled a large task force to confront sideshow gatherings that have troubled the city for years. That night, roughly 150 officers used drones to track the locations and movements of participants before moving in on the Harbor Gateway neighborhood.
The operation, dubbed “Operation Street Sweep,” resulted in 69 arrests, 200 vehicles impounded, and 570 people cited, including 128 juveniles found to be out past curfew.
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