Teens Damage Property at Target During Holiday Weekend Loitering

This past holiday weekend was a beautiful one in the city.  However, one night we heard what sounded like 30 cop cars with sirens blaring at what seemed like the Roosevelt and State vicinity.  We weren't sure what was happening, but it sounded similar to what happens when protests come through the neighborhood.

With that said, we just read an interesting and disturbing article on the Tribune outlining a difficult predicament the Chicago Police department faced with a large number of teenagers:

The large group of teens had been wandering downtown and along the lake Sunday evening, but police decided it was time for the group to leave. 

The teens, numbering more than 100 and some deemed "borderline criminal" by police, were first steered onto Red Line trains that ran express from the Gold Coast to the South Side. Then they were chased from 31st Street Beach and began running through traffic on King Drive.

Beyond the fascinating read, the article did cite an incident at Target on Roosevelt:

All four nights of the holiday weekend, these extra patrols kept track of groups of teens as they arrived downtown on the Red Line and made their way to beaches and parks. Some lingered around Michigan Avenue or near CTA stations. The groups ranged in size from a few dozen to more than a hundred.

“They came down here specifically to cause problems,” Deputy Chief Al Nagode said. “They were running in and out of traffic, they were confronting different groups, they were running into businesses doing different activities that were borderline criminal, mostly nuisance, so the officers have to work that fine line of, do we (go) out there to arrest somebody.”

In one instance, teens damaged property at a Target store at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, police said. There were reports of gunfire near the Bottled Blonde bar on Wells Street late Saturday, near LaSalle Drive and Ontario Street early Sunday and at Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive early Monday. That night, officers reported people running from the sound of gunfire as crowds left North Avenue Beach.

The Trib does a good job outlining the fine line the police department toes on this one.  It seems like they're damned if they do and damned if they don't.