DeKalb City Council OKs parental fines for youth misconduct: ‘Whatever we can do to keep our kids safer’

DeKALB – To ensure that parents of youth who demonstrate disorderly conduct are held accountable for their actions, the DeKalb City Council threw its unanimous support this week behind a plan to fine parents under amended city code.

Final council action taken this week in a 7-0 vote was applied in response to unruly teens who had violated city ordinance over the past month. Ward 5 Alderman Scott McAdams was absent. The unanimous vote came after a first-round vote saw the council initially split on the matter.

The amended ordinance helps provide a vehicle in which Police Chief David Byrd said parents may participate in parenting classes to help themselves.

“We also want to have a remedy for the parent,” Byrd said. “We want to help the parent as well to improve as a parent. A lot of times, I think, this is something that is going to be beneficial to have to speak to someone about parenting, someone who probably has more experience.”

The city’s plan, as approved, provides a civil remedy for victims of damage to person or to property against parents whether it be arranging for community service or participation in the Changing Outcomes by Making Parents Accountable [Compass] program. The latter involves minors and their parents or guardians meeting with a trained juvenile officer to discuss the offense.

According to city documents, fighting in May at DeKalb High School carried into the Annie Glidden North neighborhood and yards of homes on Russell Road before circulating around Kimberly, West Hillcrest and Pappas drives and North Annie Glidden Road. The crowd of more than 50 grew concentrated in the 700 block of North Annie Glidden, city staff wrote. Another fight incident was reported at the DeKalb Park District’s Haish Gym, 303 S. Ninth St. One teenager was stabbed during the fight.

The youth unrest came just days after the brutal killing of DeKalb High School freshman Gracie Sasso-Cleveland, 15, found dead by police in a dumpster May 7, and one day before a fatal shooting May 11 of 2022 DHS graduate Marlon King Jr., 19.

Timothy M. Doll, 29, a registered sex offender of the 500 block of College Avenue in DeKalb, faces first-degree murder charges in Sasso-Cleveland’s May 4 death. Jayden C. Hernandez, 19, of the 500 block of Russell Road, and Carreon S. Scott, 20, of the 800 block of West Taylor Street in DeKalb both face first-degree murder charges in King’s death.

A more recent fight reported May 31 at Hopkins Pool in DeKalb led DeKalb police to arrest one adult and two minors for misconduct. Willie Montgomery, 41, of DeKalb is charged with misdemeanor obstructing justice according to DeKalb Police Department records. The two juveniles, one male and one female, were both charged with disorderly conduct, DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd said. The fight also prompted the DeKalb Park District to amend its rules for pool entry.

We also want to have a remedy for the parent. We want to help the parent as well to improve as a parent. A lot of times, I think, this is something that is going to be beneficial to have to speak to someone about parenting, someone who probably has more experience.”

—  DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd

Fines outlined as Council reacts

Individuals found in violation of third and fourth offenses would be subject to fines. Under the city’s plan, parents or guardians of minors found to have caused damage to a person or property in violation of city code could be fined by the city between $100 and $1,000 per offense, documents show.

More serious offenses, however, will continue to be subject to penalty by state or federal jurisdiction.

Mayor Cohen Barnes said he believes there are a lot of parents and kids who are scared about recent unrest in the community and said the city hasn’t done enough to address their concerns.

“This is one way that we can try and lean in,” Barnes said. “I’ve heard this from parents over and over again, ‘But I want kids to be able to go to school again and feel OK. I want them to come home, walk around their neighborhood and feel OK.’ This is one thing that we can do to hopefully make some sort of an impact on that. So, I’m really for it.”

Ward 6 Alderman Mike Verbic said the city “has to be all in with this” parental fine ordinance and equipping DeKalb police with the added tools they need.

Ward 2 Alderwoman Barb Larson commended the city for taking up this initiative to help combat disorderly conduct by local youth.

“I think that by having the freedom of multiple choices for our magistrate or whatever we call them that I think that strengthens our system and that we’re not going to have somebody overly punished,” Larson said. “It fits the crime. When we grew up, it was like what you had to do, you got to stay after school. It fit the crime. I think it gives the tools for our police and to make it fit.”

The city’s plan was largely met without council members expressing any objections this time around. Ward 1 Alderwoman Carolyn Zasada and Ward 7 Alderman John Walker both swayed in their positions on how to vote on the matter. The two council members were among three vocal critics voting in opposition to the parental fine ordinance in an initial vote held last month.

Walker said it makes sense now to support the amended ordinance.

“I’m for [the ordinance.] I’m tired of the crime and everything going on,” Walker said. “We need to do something to stop it. I get it, although this ordinance is not about big crimes and things of that nature. It’s for the small ones that kids and parents should be held accountable for because if you break my window, you’re paying for it one way or another.”

When asked Wednesday why she decided to support the parental fine ordinance, Zasada said the matter hits especially close to home for her. She said she felt the city needed to take some action.

“There was the fight at Hopkins Pool, and I had been there that same day, and I was there the next day,” Zasada said. “I have children who lifeguard at the pool, so it keeps hitting closer and closer to home, it feels like. Whatever we can do to keep our kids safer, that’s what I want to do, especially if the threat is from other kids. We need to do whatever we can.”