FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — The Fairview Heights Police Department says about 500 teens were "unruly and using illegal drugs" in Moody Park over the weekend between the hours of 4-6 p.m., according to a post on Facebook.
Neighbors who saw the teens say otherwise.
"It doesn't seem off but maybe a little on the high side (number of teens in the park)," Cost said.
Tom Cost lives by the park and says he heard crowd noise coming from the park on Saturday and chalked it up to an Easter Egg hunt.
"We saw a bunch of folks running towards the west side of the park and that's when soon after we heard sirens," Cost said.
Responding officers said they had to stop some of the teens from fighting, which resulted in the park closing early.
Police said 150 teens didn't have rides home because they either used an Uber or got dropped off by the family. Some teens left and visited Three Springs Park in Shiloh or an O'Fallon restaurant on Saturday evening.
The department said they will arrest teens and parents for failing to supervise their children if they need to next time with a zero-tolerance policy.
Cost said, for the most part, the park is peaceful. He frequently visits with his grandchildren and wants it to stay that way. He said police were able to disperse the teens quickly.
"Most of the time, it's just folks over there having fun with their families," Cost said.
The O'Fallon Police Department confirmed in March teens were forced to leave Moody Park and then started fights at St. Clair Bowl.
As a result, Fairview Heights police are installing license plate readers in addition to surveillance cameras already in place.
But Cost said heightened security is only a piece of the puzzle.
"The problem is if you do that you still have three sides of the park that are available. They can drop them off on the main road or in the back. Unless you're going to install everything everywhere, I don't know how much it will help," Cost said.
In the past, Fairview Heights police said there was another gathering in the park with teens who ended up shooting two people after they left the park.
They said another set of them was shooting on Interstate 64.