Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington has some advice for parents planning to host a party for their teenagers.
Police Chief Richard Eddington, with Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl, as he speaks at the anti-violence meeting.
Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington has some advice for parents planning to host a party for their teenagers.
“You need more than one adult chaperone,” Eddington told the hundreds of people gathered at an anti-violence meeting Tuesday night.
“The bad stuff happens outside the house,” the chief added, “and you need to have enough adults on the property to be aware of what’s going on.”
The chief also encouraged parents who do host a party to call the police as the event is breaking up, especially if there have been any conflicts among the party-goers.
“Call 911 or 847-866-5000,” Eddington said, “and we can send cars into the area to deter any problems as the kids are walking home.”
Police say a dispute among kids leaving a party attended by at least 150 teens in northwest Evanston on Sept. 22 led to the shooting that left 14-year-old Dajae Coleman dead.
The chief also thanked residents for coming forward with information that led to an arrest in the Coleman case and encouraged residents to use the department’s anonymous text-a-tip service to provide information.
Police chief’s recommendations vs. black males reality
While I understand based on recent events why it is recommended to contact the police – the reality for people of color is that "the Evanston police are not our friends." The police in Evanston, because of a certain group of people (gang members) they deal with, tend to lump all young people in that group and show intolerance and harrassing behavior toward "good" youth.
So while Evanston regoups and trys to address the needs of youth to ensure we don't experience anymore tragedies toward/from our youth, EPD needs to be trained reminded, forced to not "assume" every black male age 13-30 is not a gang member or suspect. The reality of being a black male in Evanston. This is just one suggestion to adress the problem.
a certain naivete
Yes, this recommendaiton struck me as practical and the kind of suggestion a police chief might offer, but it is hard to imagine calling the police as a positive step when the most common kind of interaction your kids have with the police is a negative one. Right or wrong, if people think that calling the police to come to your neighborhood is more likely to result in a bad outcome, they aren't going to call. There is lots and lots and LOTS of social science research on this kind of distrust of authority. Do I have a good solution, no. But the suggestion here is not only unlikely to be followed where more safety is needed, and the comment makes the Chief seem out of touch. I'm not trying to be mean but I am saying we have to go deeper than this.
The reality
The reality is that if the parents or neighbors had called the police, perhaps Dajae would still be with us
right
You are right about the reality that the police may have been able to prevent this if someone had called. And THAT is why it is distressing that whole groups of people feel like they cannot call the police. That's the problem.
My question is simply
My question is simply this….. If your NOT doing anything wrong, why are you afraid of the cops? A couple questions from the cops is not harassment! C'mon….? I love our cops and have seen them over and over doing a fabulous job!
Party help
Could the chief of police please share his favorite recipes for party drinks and appetizers. 🙂
Another bit of party advice for parents
Don't allow your kids to have parties with 150 guests. Nothing good will come from this large of a party, especially when some number of the attendees heard about it via social media and don't even know the person(s) throwing the party.