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Quincy police report 9 arrests, 11 citations after planned street takeover; officials warn of zero-tolerance
Summary
Chief Yates told the City Council that Quincy police, with state and regional partners, disrupted an intended street takeover, made nine arrests and issued about 11 citations; the department signaled it will pursue legal and ordinance options to deter future events.
At the City Council meeting on 2025-06-16, Chief Yates, chief of police for the City of Quincy, told aldermen that officers and regional law-enforcement partners disrupted a planned street takeover and arrested nine people.
"We did arrest 9 individuals on Saturday night. We wrote about 11, various tickets for anything from driving with a suspended driver's license to speeding," Chief Yates said, summarizing enforcement action taken after the department learned of the event via social media roughly a week and a half earlier.
The chief told the council Quincy police coordinated with the Adams County Sheriff's Department, the Illinois State Police and law-enforcement partners in Missouri, and staged officers on the street before the event's expected start time to deter and, when necessary, break up gatherings. "We actually learned about this event about a week and a half prior to via social media," he said. "We coordinated a response ... to do everything that we could to inhibit the ability for these individuals to ... engage in illegal activity or reckless driving activity and to deter any further activities like this going forward."
Yates described the typical street takeover activity — gatherings in parking lots, tire squealing, burnouts and donuts — as dangerous to participants and the public and as a frequent source of property damage and neighborhood noise. He said officers disbanded groups in parking lots and took enforcement action at several locations around the city.
On next steps, the chief said the department will continue working with the Illinois State Police, which will lead intelligence gathering, and that the department will take a stricter enforcement posture: "We will basically have a 0 tolerance policy for any type of illegal activity, reckless driving, speeding, squealing tires, whatever may be going on." He also told council members the department is reviewing options to add violations to local ordinances where state law permits. "There's some legal limitations on that, but there is some options for us... we'll exercise those options," he said.
Council members asked whether some violations would allow towing; Yates said it depends on the specific offense and legal limits but indicated the department is examining statutory options to expand enforcement tools.
The police chief closed by asking for continued public tips and promising continued coordination with regional partners to prevent similar events.
The report was informational; the council did not take formal legislative action in the meeting record on ordinance changes related to street takeovers.
