Putting a cork in crowd troubles

Extra patrols, new after-hours regulations and better video surveillance comprise a city task force’s strategy to quell rowdy crowds that spill onto Tejon Street when the bars close at 2 a.m.

The crowds, some as large as 2,000 people, have caused injury and drawn police resources from neighborhoods, and only seem to be getting worse.

City officials say street crowds grow in warm months, but even in winter, the revelry has required more cops to keep order.

“We have a problem, and need to deal with the problem,” Assistant City Manager Mike Anderson said.

“When we do have issues late at night, it drains the Police Department’s resources, and they have to pull officers out of other sectors that reduces the level of service in other areas.”

Police Commander Kurt Pillard chalks the problem up to the city coming of age.

“Colorado Springs is a big city with big-city problems,” Pillard said.

Service calls for the 54 liquor licensees in the Downtown Business Improvement District — the largest concentration of bars in the city — totaled 1,200 in 2006. The district lies south of Boulder Street, north of Rio Grande Street, west of Wahsatch Avenue and east of Interstate 25. Police calls ballooned by 50 percent last year to 1,800.

Three of the top four call generators are on Tejon Street — the heart of downtown.

“The eye of the hurricane is zero-hundred north and zero-hundred south Tejon,” Pillard said.

The proposal, to be presented to the City Council next month, is the brainchild of hundreds of people who participated in a yearlong analysis of the problem the past year, said Beth Kosley, executive director of the Downtown Partnership, a group of about 200 businesses.

“This has been a matter of topic at BID (Downtown Business Improvement District) meetings for a year,” she said. The district includes hundreds of property owners.

That concern led to the formation last fall of the city task force, which brought in police and city officials.

“When I get calls or letters from people expressing they can no longer come downtown for dinner in the evening, we have a perception problem,” she said. “This image and perception is escalating; it’s not diminishing.”

She emphasized the problems aren’t widespread; it’s mostly isolated to bars at the 2 a.m. closing time.

“What’s going on is, the bars are shutting down. The liquor is being locked up and then after that, the after-hours clubs and parties are opening up, and individuals are invited back in and there’s activity until the wee hours of the morning,” Anderson said.

While people wait to be readmitted, “they can create a volatile situation,” he said. Even police have been stunned by the chaos.

“There would be 2,000 people in the street,” Pillard said. “It was overwhelming for the police staff. We might arrest 15 to 20 people, and the rest are free.”

Kosley said the problem stems from “a handful of establishments.”

The proposal, Kosley said, calls for bar owners to contribute to a fund to hire off-duty police officers to provide coverage from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and for special events.

The proposal’s price tag is $450,000 annually for eight officers, she said.

Kosley said downtown business owners don’t want to see “a SWAT team showing up in full combat gear” but rather “a more customer-friendly approach that is present but not in a threatening way.”

The proposal also calls for creating a cabaret license that would mandate bars’ closing time at 2 a.m. and prevent them from reopening.

“In effect, it prevents after-hours clubs from popping up,” she said.

Pillard said the City Attorney’s Office has said laws in place that allow clubs to reopen as long as liquor isn’t served can’t be changed without state legislation.

Other recommendations from the task force include better lighting in alleys and installing more video cameras. A handful of cameras were put up in recent weeks but don’t provide full coverage. No cost estimates have been compiled.

“We hope the strategy will work,” Anderson said. “We think the combination will be able to address it and minimize the large crowds downtown, so that we can reduce the risk from a public safety perspective and ensure we have the (police) coverage necessary for the entire city at night.”

TOP FOUR CALLS FOR SERVICE IN 2007

- Rum Bay, 309 calls

- The Vue, 270 calls

- Eden (now Pure13), 207 calls

- The Ritz, 153 calls

Source: Colorado Springs Police Department