CHANDLER, Arizona — The City of Chandler wants to stop large unruly parties involving teenagers.
A subcommittee made of city councilmembers and police discussed Friday updating city ordinances to create harsher penalties for those hosting these events.
“We're not going to allow unruly behavior to happen and take place,” Vice Mayor OD Harris said.
It’s called the Preston Lord Community Safety Bill. Named after the 16-year-old who was beaten to death in Queen Creek last October during a Halloween party that had dozens of kids his age in attendance.
Harris said he spoke with Preston’s father Nick Lord about naming the updated ordinance after his son.
“[Nick Lord] thinks this is another way to honor his son, to bring awareness, bring education to this issue that he's dealing with,” Harris said.
The updated ordinance still needs to be approved by the city council. As it stands now, any property owner caught hosting one of these large parties where teenagers are found doing criminal activity like drinking or doing drugs could face a $2,500 citation and up to 180 days in jail.
The current ordinance has a $250 civil penalty for first-time offenses.
During the discussion, the Chandler Police Department reported over the course of three years they've responded to two parties where more than 50 teenagers had gathered. In that time, seven people have been cited made up of three adults and four teenagers.
Other cities in the Valley have similar ordinances in place, but what Chandler has proposed would become one of the harshest when it comes to penalties.
Harris said this will discussed at a city council meeting in April with the goal of it getting approved by either June or July.
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