Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran today announced a new committee to calm the alcohol-fueled violence downtown, especially in the area of Caroline Street, the home to many late-night bars and clubs. The 14-member group is made up of city staff from the police department, fire department and the city council. It also includes business owners, bar owner and the leaders of business organizations.
The downtown advisory committee will be co-chaired by Commissioner Moran and Todd Shimkus, the president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, the announcement says.
Shimkus says this time is different.
The city has seen groups of this nature get together before when an outbreak of violence occurs in downtown Saratoga Springs.
[See a related story posted today about this issue here.]
And it works for a few years, Shimkus and Moran both said.
“This is a subject [the response to violence] that has come up four or five times in the 13 years I’ve been here,” in the Saratoga Chamber, Shimkus said. The process always brings together the police, the bar owners and representatives from the New York State Liquor Authority.
They collaborate and communicate well for a while, and it all goes great, he said.
The trouble is that the bar owners, bartenders, trained security, and the police officers get promoted, change jobs or leave the area.
Moran said sometimes a new bar owner does not like the communications strategy, so the situation loses compliance with the turnover in staff.
“What I think is different about this is that it’s a standing committee,” Shimkus said.
He said this committee will look at events, and at what went right and wrong after an event occurred. They’ll look at issues that the bars or the police are facing and figure out the best responses.
He said that they will be looking at the proper protocol overall, and they will write down the rules.
The police department can tell bartenders and owners how to handle certain situations or how to reach out for help. Bartenders can tell police what they are seeing through this committee, he said.
One bartender spoken to off-the-record said he used to call police but only on his cell phone. He did not want to call 911 from the bar’s landline. That could trigger a response from the SLA and put a mark on the bar’s record, he said.
Shimkus said that Tom Clancy, owner of Clancy’s bar on Caroline street once bought all of the security staff cell phones to call one another and coordinate a response to a drunk or belligerent person. But is that the best way to handle it? he wondered.
What is the best way to bring in the police.
Should there be a silent button similar to what banks use in a robbery that silently calls the police. Perhaps there should be a red light over the bar door that can be flipped on to show the bar needs help, Shimkus said, adding that these were ideas he had been hearing from people as he and Moran put the committee together.
He wondered about patting down or using a metal detecting wand to find weapons. It sounds like a great idea to stop a patron with a gun from entering a bar. Shimkus asked, but what if a bouncer finds one? What the bouncer supposed to do?
You need a protocol to follow, one that the police can back, Shimkus said, and that is what the committee will consider.
The committee will begin to meet in January.
“The first order of business for this committee will be to coordinate a third-party audit of all protocols now in place within the City’s downtown,” the announcement reads.
The committee’s other priority will be setting up a training workshop for all on-premise license holders in the city with the city’s police department. Police and security personnel would train to de-escalate situations; pat down or search patrons for weapons; remove disorderly individual(s) from an establishment; and speed up the notification of police officers about such situations.
Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino said he had no response to the committee formation. Mayor Ron Kim did not respond to a request for comment.
The Committee:
- Co-chairs, Dillon Moran and Todd Shimkus.
- Commissioner Minita Sanghvi, City of Saratoga Springs
- Police Chief Shane Crooks, Saratoga Springs Police Department
- Lt. Tyler McIntosh, Saratoga Springs Police Department
- Assistant Chief Aaron Dyer, Saratoga Springs Fire Department/Chief Code Enforcer
- Deann Devitt, President of the Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association
- Darryl Leggieri, President, Discover Saratoga
- Dean Kolligan, a member of the Downtown Special Assessment District
- Jason Fitch, City Tavern
- Dennis Kiingati, Hamlet and Ghost
- Heidi West, Lifestyles, Caroline & Main, and Union Hall Supply
- Brian Miller, Bourbon Room and Ice House
- Sara Elacqua, Spa City Tap & Barrel
City support staff to the committee:
- Deputy Commissioner of Accounts Stacy Connors
- Assistant City Clerk Barbara Brindisi
- City Attorney Tony Izzo.