Baltimore Crime Beat: Cops, bar and an injury at the Iguana - Baltimore, Maryland crime news, blogs and video

Bar owners are still fuming at Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederck H. Bealefeld's recent ban of officers working off-duty security at places that sell alcohol. He views it as a conflict and a liability issue for officers who often act as armed bouncers, breaking up fights and pushing drunks along, rather than doing serious law enforcement.

Today's column in the print edition goes into more detail about a case Bealefeld cited when explaining his decision. He had mentioned during a City Council luncheon that a young man had been injured and was in a coma inside Iguana Cantina in September, even as a dozen of his officers were working security outside the downtown nightclub.
The video above, provided to by the attorney for Iguana Cantina, shows a man in a white shirt disappearing from the screen. It is very difficult to see, especially on the first viewing. It happens in the bottom left corner, and you'll be able to pinpoint it when you see security guards moving toward the location. But by that time you won't see the injured man anymore. Iguana officials released the tape to prove there was no brawl inside the club. The video then cuts to the exit, where you see Baltimore police officers arriving and the injured man being carried out.

The commissioner said it looks bad when something like that happens and still nobody comes foward with information for an arrest.

The victim might have fallen or been pushed, the club attorney told me.

Police have been unable to get a statement from the victim and are still investigating. The Iguana attorney said he doesn't understand how this incident could have been handled any differently with or without officers working secuirty.

David Adams, the husband of one of the owners and a former city police officer, sent me this e-mail:

Peter , I used to be police in the City and my wife is the licensee at Iguana Cantina, Could you tell me who is providing the information that a kid was beaten into a Coma at Iguana. I have the videotape from the incident & provided to the Police Department and you cannot see a fight or even a punch thrown. I was informed that he had a closed head wound and that he had some point been pushed or fell and hit his head on our concrete floor. I will tell you want thing for sure you DO NOT see a altercation of any kind on the Videotape. I am sick and tired of the MISINFORMATION concerning this very unfortunate incident.

Adams said most of the problems occurr outside the clubs. He said a few Saturdays ago Iguana bouncers denied entry to a drunk patron. The same man was then refused entry across the street at Power Plant Live, and then tried again at Iguana. Eventually, he was arrested on a disorderly charge. "This goes down as a problem at the bar," Adams said. "He wasn’t even a patron. Most of the problems are from people who can’t get inside. It’s a neighborhood problem."

Here is what the police commissioner, Bealefeld, told the City Council about officers working in bars:

"What we see is that we have officers that are working throughout the city at places that are selling, distributing, people consuming alcohol that frankly have become very violent. These locations have become enormously violent and a threat to public safety, some of them. What the refrain I hear from some of the club owners is, well, Bealefeld, your cops are working security. So if the patrons aren't safe, who's responsible? Well, that's a yes and no question. Those cops working secondary - they are city police, in our general orders, it says if you're a cop in the city, you're always a cop in the city. 24 hours, 7 days a week, even if you're off, you're a cop in the city. And so to divorce ourselves from being a cop while we're collecting money from someone else on the payroll of someone else, doesn't work. It's an enomorus conflict of interest.

"At the minimum it's an enormous conflict of interest. At the higher end, it opens the way, paves the way for an enourmous amount of corruptability, from something as simple as letting an 18 year old lady go in a club who shouldn't be there, to turning a blind eye and not taking aggressive action on criminal activity. You know, when people wind up in a coma in a club that I have cops working secondary at, and no one knows anything or cops are throwing unruly drunken disorderly combative violent patrons out on the street, only for them to shoot and stab and kill each other is unaccepatable. I have a simple answer: my cops won't work at businesses that sell alcohol.

"The Baltimore City Police Department is responsible for the safety of this city. So we're going to do what we're supppsed to do outside of those clubs and to make city streets safe. But bar owners, club owners, whoever, don't get a pass. The fact that they feed and feed and feed and feed people alcohol and they come outside and start urinating on the neighbors porches, and I know all of you hear those complaints, 'cuz you send me the letters about them, the fact that they're banging into cars and scratching up cars and doing all kinds of things on the low end - That's on the simple, innocuous end. But on the end that their patrons are shooting and stabbing and killing each other, we, all of us, are trying to do something about that."

Comments

Removing police officers from bars is a stupid idea. As a Baltimore City resident and a bar patron, I feel much safer knowing an officer is in the bar. His/her presence alone defers acts of violence. If cops are no longer present at these bars, wouldn't the liklihood of violence in these bars increase? I would think so.

Also, these cops aren't making a ton of money as being city police officers, especially in this economy. If off duty work puts a few extra dollars in their pockets and bar patrons feel safer, what is the problem?

Posted by: JB | November 23, 2008 9:20 AM

The problem is, in our litigious society, when an off-duty copy is working at a bar location, and something goes down, even if the copy is off-duty, the city can be sued in a multitude of ways. Its why college presidents are pushing for an 18-over drinking age. It has less to do with the kids earning their 'rights' but to avoid litigation.

Still Bealefeld case in this instance is weak. If the city's been successfully sued over this, then I see their concern.

Posted by: GMan | November 24, 2008 3:39 PM

JB I see what you're saying, but I feel differently. I've noticed that violence is more likely to break out at establishments where there is a police presence. True it might be squashed very quickly, but it still has a higher chance to break out. There are many places in town where there is no police presence and no violence...ever. I wonder why?? Those are the places I prefer to hang out at. i.e. I feel much safer knowing police are not needed to maintain order.

Posted by: Mike | November 25, 2008 9:33 AM

Mike, what are the names of these places and what is their average nightly attendance?

Unfortunately, wherever you have large crowds of people imbibing alcohol, there will some individuals who chose to behave in a disorderly fashion.

Posted by: John | November 28, 2008 1:02 PM