State Grant Funds Two Officers to Cap Rise of Alcohol-Related Crime

To combat a sharp rise in alcohol-related calls that involve everything from underage drinkers to bar brawls, police have launched a major crackdown that includes committing two officers full time to downtown liquor patrol.

“Half of all the arrests in this city are alcohol-related, and alcohol far outweighs any of the other drugs available for abuse by underage kids. Something has to be done,” said Ventura Police Sgt. Skip Young, who oversees a police program created in July with a $100,000 grant from the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

In Ventura, which has the highest concentration of bars in its downtown and midtown areas than any other city in the county, authorities said 54% of all arrests are alcohol-related and 11% of all motor vehicle collisions involve alcohol. Two-thirds of all incidents at nightclubs with music involve alcohol and 30% of all calls for service at local liquor stores are alcohol-related.

Calls for police assistance jumped 50% between 1998 and 1999 at some drinking establishments, police records show.

And those statistics may be incomplete, because many proprietors don’t call police when problems occur for fear of getting a reputation as a “problem bar,” Lt. Quinn Fenwick said. Others don’t call because they simply want to make money, Fenwick said.

While authorities acknowledge that many factors contribute to alcohol-related crimes--including addiction and lax parenting--they say some bar owners also are to blame for not following the law.

Armed with the state grant, Ventura police plan to expand and toughen their patrols of downtown bars, liquor stores and restaurants that sell alcohol. They have already begun regular patrols of some bars that have been the source of frequent calls to police.

The grant allowed the Police Department to hire two full-time officers who patrol on bicycle and spend a majority of their time looking for alcohol violations in the downtown area.

The stepped-up enforcement comes at a time when downtown--where bikers and transients once made up a large part of the scene--is undergoing a major revitalization. As rents rise and new stores and restaurants move in, the city is determined to improve the safety and image of the area in hopes of attracting more tourists.

Ventura doesn’t have the same alcohol-related problems of a larger city, officials say, but its problems are growing.

“It’s naive to say there are no problems,” said Dominka Pilic, who, along with her sister and father, owns Bombay Bar & Grill. “But a lot of us have really started cracking down.”

After gathering statistics and information from beat cops, the department realized it had potential problems--specifically alcohol-related problems, Lt. Ken Corney said.

Most clubs and restaurants report few or no problems, Fenwick said. But those bars that have registered the most calls to police over the last several years include:

* Bombay Bar & Grill. This California Street establishment had 70 calls in 1999, a jump from 54 calls in 1998, according to police records. This year, there have been 19 reports, including five cases of resisting arrest.

* Nicholby’s. The Main Street bar had 45 calls in 1999, more than double the 21 in 1998. In 2000, there have been 28 incidents, nine involving battery, police records show.

* Star Lounge. This Main Street bar had 57 calls in 1999, compared with 40 in 1998. This year, police have responded 23 times; many of the calls involved illegal smoking of cigarettes.

* Metro Nite Club. This Main Street dance club had 25 calls in 1999, 24 in 1998 and eight so far this year.

In the last 2 1/2 years, there have been two sexual battery calls at Metro, police records show. Last year, its license was suspended for 10 days after members of a male dance review got too friendly with patrons, according to state Alcoholic Beverage Control investigators.

* Sans Souci. This Chestnut Street bar, across the street from the busy Ventura Theatre, had 26 calls in 1999, compared with 11 in 1998. This year, there have been six calls. In one instance, a bartender was cited for allegedly serving a drunk patron in front of an officer. Though the owner agreed to pay a fine, which could run as high as $3,000, the bartender must appear in court on a misdemeanor charge.

Officers say the bar has had fewer problems this summer, after it began closing an hour earlier, at 1 a.m., and trimmed large trees that once shrouded the bar’s small outdoor patio.

* Red Cove. Farther down Main Street in midtown, this bar is viewed by beat cops as Ventura’s grittiest. It had 15 calls for help in 1999 and 15 the year before.

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Of the six on the so-called hot-spot list, the Cove, has had the fewest police calls this year. But of the four calls, one was officers arresting a man in the shooting of another customer inside the bar.

Red Cove owner Dorothy Walbridge said her bar’s bad reputation is unfair and outdated, because the place isn’t the rough-and-tumble biker joint it was 20 years ago.

“Other bars in town have many people like that, but we’ve cleaned this place up,” Walbridge said. “There’s no smoking--and they do at other places--and we’ve got a good crew who keep things on the up-and-up.”

Most police calls at Ventura bars aren’t for serious crimes, officers said. The majority of the cases involve intoxicated people disturbing the peace or fights between men and wives, or girlfriends. But there are also assaults, drug sales and underage drinking, police said.

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Along with increased enforcement, authorities want to work with businesses that sell liquor, Fenwick said.

“The whole idea is to teach them how to deal with the problems,” he said. “Some of them just don’t take the time to learn the rules or they forget the rules after they get that license.”

Police also are cracking down on alcohol-related crimes because the state Alcoholic Beverage Control needs the help, said Ed Macias, head of the regional office in Santa Barbara. Four investigators, based in Santa Barbara, oversee all alcohol sales between northern San Luis Obispo County and the Los Angeles County line.

Since 1991, the agency has offered free, voluntary training for business owners and their employees to educate them on state law, the responsibilities of serving and selling alcohol and avoiding illegal activity. The course also teaches how to check identification, spot intoxicated people and cooperate with law enforcement, said Lauren Tyson, who heads the agency’s Licensee Education on Alcohol and Drugs program.

Pilic of Bombay Bar & Grill said she hasn’t sent any employees to the classes but is planning to as part of a new policy of “zero tolerance” for problem customers.

“We’ve cracked down,” she said. “You don’t have to cause a fight to get [thrown out] of the club. If you’re iffy, we won’t let you in. We are really strict on people and want to make sure it’s a safe environment.”

Until March, the classes were held in Santa Barbara. Then, teachers started coming to Ventura, Tyson said, but few students have been attending classes.

In March, six employees from three establishments showed up for an afternoon seminar; in April, 17 from seven businesses attended, Tyson said. By July, attendance leveled off to about 12 students a month.

Walbridge of the Red Cove has sent several employees to the classes and said the instruction has been helpful. She would like to see the agency add information about spotting and stopping gang activity.

In addition to education, the state hopes the grant money will encourage cities to institute alcohol patrolling as part of law enforcement routine.

If officers develop a case at the scene, it can help save enforcement resources, Macias said. For example, an officer who catches a minor drinking in public can find out where the juvenile bought the liquor and cite both the juvenile and the store owner before notifying Alcoholic Beverage Control, which tracks such violations.

Much like the state’s three-strikes law, the agency keeps track of repeat offenders who own bars.

Most first-time violations end in warnings, license suspensions and fines. Worst-case scenarios lead to charges being filed against a bar owner and possible license revocation.

Two Ventura bars, the historic Rendezvous Room on Main Street and Arvind’s on Seaward Avenue, have been closed in the last two years for liquor violations.

The Rendezvous Room had a series of violations in 1997 for serving intoxicated people, Macias said.

Arvind’s voluntarily surrendered its license in late 1999 after a sweep by Alcoholic Beverage Control officers in 1998 found excessively loud music, bugs on bottles, illegally purchased alcohol, and an intoxicated patron being served a drink.

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Thursdays through Sundays, Officers Mark Cleavinger and Ryan Weeks spend their shifts looking for people drinking from open containers and minors in possession of alcohol. They also check liquor stores, bars and restaurants to make sure intoxicated or underage people are not being served.

During one week in July, the officers arrested one person per shift, Fenwick said. He said he expected a big jump in reported violations because of the new patrol.

Most bar owners praised the police, saying most of them were quick and courteous when responding to calls. At least one bar owner, however, complained that officers harassed her customers by shining lights in their faces and let a drug dog loose inside to sniff out illegal substances.

In late July, police officers joined agency investigators in a sweep of nine downtown bars, resulting in three citations.

The grant requires police to do more than patrol, Fenwick said. In the next year, they must perform seven sting-type operations that require underage decoys to attempt to buy liquor, and ask people standing outside liquor stores to buy them alcohol.

Part of the plan is to educate business owners and their employees and give them ample warning about potential trouble.

Police plan to notify bars and liquor stores in advance that they will be sending out decoys or conducting other checks for offenders on certain nights. Officers doing inspections also will grant grace periods for certain violations to be corrected, such as a liquor store with too many signs on a front window, which is illegal, or a bar caught with a batch of dirty pour spouts.

Some bar owners would like even more cooperation.

Walbridge said she is often reluctant to call authorities because officers record every visit they make to a bar--even if it doesn’t result in an arrest--and then turn that data over to Alcoholic Beverage Control, which can launch an investigation, if it chooses.

“There needs to be a way we can call without being penalized,” Walbridge said. “Sometimes we just want an officer to walk through if we feel funny about something.”

Fenwick said the program will also target minors who use fake identification. Several operations are planned in which officers will pose as liquor store cashiers, with the cooperation of store owners, and look for minors who try to buy alcohol.

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Additionally, each officer on the force will attend more than seven hours of training on state alcohol regulations, including learning how to conduct bar inspections, check bottles for cleanliness and investigate businesses to see if they have purchased liquor illegally.

Police hope to reduce alcohol calls by 20% over the next year. During a 10-month period in 1999, there were 762 alcohol-related calls, and police hope to cut that to 685 by next June.