Sixteen-year-old Ashley Garcia and her friends left the Aurora Mall sooner than planned Friday night.
“I’ve been asked to leave, and I’m not causing any problems. It’s annoying,” she said.
Aurora Mall kicked off its “Families First” program Friday with mall officials, dubbed “moms and dads” and wearing conspicuous blue shirts, asking anyone who appeared younger than 21 for identification.
The program requires teens 16 and younger to be accompanied by a parent or guardian at the mall after 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. For the first two weeks, teens will be informed of the new policy and told to have ID or an adult escort next time.
But apparently some, like Garcia, felt they weren’t welcome and decided to find another place to hang out.
Alisa Sill, director of mall marketing for Simon Property Group, the Indianapolis company that owns the mall, said the program’s intent is not to discourage teens from coming to the mall, but to provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere for families.
Officials have estimated that 500 teens visit the mall on weekend nights. Those teens are welcome, Sill said, but must bring an escort older than 21.
“We don’t call it a curfew,” Sill said.
Officials said the mall was more quiet than usual Friday.
The security presence, however, was more lively.
Mall “moms and dads” carrying walkie-talkies and information pamphlets patrolled entrances.
Security officials buzzed around on electric scooters and off-duty police officers peered out from corners.
“I think these people have a case of paranoia,” said 16-year- old Holly Burns.
The new procedures come after a shootout at the mall in June in which one woman was killed and her boyfriend seriously injured. Two suspects arrested in connection with the case were 20. Some teens said they thought the new procedures were good because it will make the mall safer.
“They gave us opportunities and we messed it up,” said Rudi Jenkins, 16. “We started killing people, so we have security now and that’s good.”
Elijah Hawkins, a “mall dad” handing out pamphlets, said some of the teens are out of control.
“It’s not a hang-out place,” he said of the mall.
If rowdy teens keep causing trouble, Hawkins said, “old people like me won’t want to come here no more.”
Staff writer Abbe Smith can be reached at 303-820-1201 or asmith@denverpost.com.
