Mall plans closer work with IMPD, enforcement of teen group rule - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Castleton Square Mall officials and Indianapolis metro police plan to meet Tuesday to talk about Saturday night's fight and arrests on mall property.

Castleton Mall is promising shoppers that security is number one. "It's disappointing when a few unsupervised people create that type of disturbance," said spokesman Les Morris.

The mall now plans to more aggressively enforce rules already on the books, once parents and their teens know about it. Groups of more than four unsupervised teens will be asked to leave the mall.

After Saturday night's fight and five arrests at Castleton, including an 18-year-old for alcohol violations, the mall says it will work even more closely with IMPD. Police want the mall to require that all minors be escorted, but the mall fears that will hurt too many businesses.

"They were resisting," says security guard Aaron Gill.

Gill knows how important it is to watch who is coming into the mall and make sure security is adequate. He was off duty and in Circle Centre on January 5 when a large group of teens got unruly.

"One of the gentlemen decided to swing at the officer," said Gill. "I ended up having to assist because the gentleman was trying to snatch the police officer and get the officers weapon."

He says he cuffed the suspect. He now asks other shoppers to report any signs of young people in suspicious activity to security right away.

A group the size of one we saw walking down Maryland St. Monday afternoon would no longer be allowed inside Castleton. Two teens in the group attending a conference said restricting the size of groups in the mall would "lesson their money flow there."

"Couldn't you just go in groups of four and then go in?" asked the teen.

So they don't like the plan. But another teen named Alexis saw something not long ago in a Castleton Square store. "A big group of kids about 20 went in and tried to steal a lot of stuff," she said. So she is for smaller group rules.

"It stinks for teenagers our age because the few seem to outweigh the many," said Jodi Ringham.