PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria says he doesn’t want to see another night like last Saturday night, when there were some large fights in downtown Peoria, and almost four dozen gunshots fired.
Echevarria announced that he will have a couple dozen officers downtown along Main Street in the stretch of bars in the area, as an attempt to deter the violence the area saw last weekend. The extra patrols of officers start Friday night and will last until at least 4:00 a.m. the next morning, on weekends.
He’s calling it a “task force” of officers that’s forming, and believes most of the fighting isn’t coming from bar patrons – rather, people coming to the area specifically to cause trouble.
“You can meet them on good terms. But if you decide to come out here and violate the law, you’re going to meet them on bad terms,” said Echevarria, at a Friday afternoon news conference outside the downtown Federal Courthouse, where most of the fights and gun violence occurred last weekend.
Mayor Rita Ali says despite council discussion, there is not any proposed ordinance yet to change bar closing times to earlier than 4:00 a.m., as had been discussed earlier this week among members of the Peoria City Council.
Echevarria says if the people causing trouble simply move to other areas to fire guns and “party,” he says officers likely will be there, too.
As for continued growing of juvenile-related violence the chief says while legally, parents can’t be charged with crimes when juveniles are doing it, they should be held as accountable and responsible as possible.
Peoria Police say while homicides are down one-third compared to last year at this time, shooting incidents are up 27 percent.
(Chart from Peoria Police)
(NOTE: The press conference in video below was joined in progress._
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