PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria City Council is giving police another tool to help deal with unruly crowds.
On Tuesday night, city council unanimously approved amending city code to make it easier for police to disperse crowds. The ordinance comes in the wake of an incident in downtown Peoria in late-September where a crowd of more than 50 people impeded police from assisting a gunshot wound victim.
The ordinance would apply to crowd sizes of 10 people or more. It would qualify as a “nuisance gathering” if at least two of 15 qualifying offenses occur. Some of the offenses include illegal drinking, underage drinking, unlawful possession or use of cannabis, unlawful weapon possession, vandalism, criminal trespassing, firing weapons, and obstructing police.
Mayor Rita Ali promised to have an ordinance to address unruly crowds after the shooting incident took place. She told council the inspiration for Peoria’s ordinance came from a similar one in Normal.
“I talked to Mayor Chris Koos and he feels very good about the ordinance being a tool to help their police officers to address unruly, nuisance crowds like this,” Ali said.
City Attorney Patrick Hayes says a similar ordinance was adopted in Springfield, with Peoria seeing similar issues that Normal and Springfield had.
The main concern raised by council members at the meeting regarding the ordinance was if it could be used to violate 1st Amendment rights.
“We’re going to have these Sonya Massey protests coming up, we’re going to have a free speech zone, we’re going to have places for people to protest or counter protest, and it’s not just this, there’s pro-life protests, and people should be allowed to do that,” said At-Large Councilman Mike Vespa.
Vespa says the ordinance puts the onus on police officers to make the right call every time a situation arises.
Hayes says the ordinance specifically addresses that, and notes that protests would not qualify under the “nuisance gathering” unless people were breaking the law at said protest.
At-Large Councilman Zach Oyler concurred with the 1st Amendment concerns. But he told council the ordinance sends a message that unruly behavior would not be tolerated in the downtown area.
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