Chicago Ridge Mall Begins ID Checks For Teens On Friday, Saturday Evenings
(CBS) – Some youths went away disappointed from Chicago Ridge Mall Friday, as security began imposing a weekend ID check for patrons younger than 17.
"That's bogus," 15-year-old Kevin Mazurek tells CBS 2's Pamela Jones.
He said he and his friends went to the mall an hour before the policy kicked in and had not heard about it.
From now on, mall officials say, security will check ID's for teens beginning at 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through closing hours. They can only enter the mall during those periods if they are accompanied by adult guardians.
The new policy follows a December incident that originally was reported as a possible shooting in the food court. Police who swarmed the mall later said a vendor banged pots together to drum up noise to disperse a crowd.
A mall spokeswoman said there was no connection to that highly publicized incident and the new ID checks for youths. The policy is to foster a "family friendly" environment, she said.
Either way, teens weren't thrilled about it.
"I like coming with my friends to the mall and I feel like they're taking that away from us," Brianna Navarro, 14, says.
