CPD partners with bars to promote safety
CPD recommends bar employees undergo alcohol responsibility training.
Published Sept. 4, 2009
As the college-aged population of Columbia comes back into town, downtown bars and the Columbia Police Department are working together to keep crime from turning a night out into a nightmare.
The CPD hosts meetings with bars owners and publishes information on their Web site all geared toward helping owners deter crime. The site encourages bar staff to become familiar with what different state IDs look like and to use a black light to help verify authenticity.
"As the school year begins, we participate in a training program for bar owners," CPD spokeswoman Jessie Haden said. "The training is really for the servers as to what to look for to prevent over serving and to look for fake IDs."
Aside from concerns about false identification and underage drinking, Haden said the police department receives many reports of theft from patrons of bars. She said many come after belongings are left in a car unattended.
The CPD also receives calls for disturbance of the peace. Haden said she wants to emphasize these types of calls can come from anywhere, not just downtown bars.
"Let's say you've got a fraternity house or private residence and someone calls in a disturbance of the peace," Haden said. "We want to make sure we write citations for open container and minor in possession from the beginning to stop the behavior."
With the new Downtown Unit, which started in May, CPD is expecting to see more citations written this fall. The reduced summer population will make it hard to compare the number of citations written from last year to this year, Haden said.
"We expect writing more citations will change behavior and it will eventually become more of a preventative measure," Haden said.
Overcrowding is also a safety concern in bars, one that involves the Columbia Fire Department more often than the police. It is a police issue when the cramped quarters lead to fighting, Haden said. It becomes a fire code issue when the number of people inside would make it difficult to reach an exit.
The CPD Web site recommends bar owners use clickers to keep tabs on capacity and keep the number 5 to 10 percent below the fire code limit.
Rocky Hazelwood, managing partner of the Tin Can Tavern & Grille said though enforcement in Columbia had been lax in the past, bar owners are much more likely to call 911 now because of the good relationship developing between owners and the Downtown Unit.
"Basically anytime I have a situation that I don't feel comfortable I can handle myself, I would call 911," Hazelwood said. "We have a mutual respect for each other and a mutual respect for the law."
The CPD Web site also recommends bar owners require employees to complete and pass the State of Missouri Alcohol Responsibility Training. Hazelwood said employees at his bar complete the training.
"It all comes down to SMART training," Hazelwood said. "Every staff member that you have that is serving alcohol has to go through it and it shows you how to recognize signs of being drunk."
The Downtown Unit is looking for underage drinking, binge drinking and occupancy levels, Hazelwood said.
"We know they are watching for those things, so we watch for them as we always have," he said.