Extra patrols, rules bring a little peace to Anoka taverns

The late-night drama has mellowed in downtown Anoka's bar district in the past year.

Three bars closed in 2009, and police calls and assaults dropped. Unlike 2008, no outside police agencies were summoned to help gain control of boisterous bar crowds.

The change is due largely to tighter bar security rules and having two officers patrolling on foot and by car in the Jackson Street bar area every Friday and Saturday night and on four busy holiday nights, said Police Chief Philip Johanson.

The chief recently gave the City Council a report showing that total service calls dropped last year to 205 from 233 in 2008. Assaults dropped from 32 to 11, including a decline in aggravated assaults from four to one.

"Our presence there prevents a lot of this from happening," Johanson said recently. "The officers are walking the 200 block of Jackson and the parking ramp looking for [drinking-related] arguments or people who had too much to drink. When it spills out onto the street, the cops break it up."

The chief noted that more than half of the service calls involved two bars that have licenses to stay open an extra hour, until 2 a.m., Billy's Bar and Grill and Jackson Street Grill and Bar. Most of the 205 calls were non-emergencies, such as thefts, medical issues, or lost property.

Jackson Street Grill saw its calls drop from 107 to 69 last year, while Billy's had 61 each year.

"The bars definitely are doing a better job of providing security," the chief said.

Incidents led to changes

After several rowdy bar fights in 2008, the council raised the bar fee for a 2 a.m. closing from $300 to $500 last June. That's in addition to the basic liquor-serving license fee of $5,000 per year. The council had discussed raising the late-closing fee much higher after police had to call in outside agencies three times to help quell fights on Jackson Street. That reached a peak on Halloween night 2008 when a few dozen outside squad cars came to assist Anoka police.

So, how much did a quieter downtown cost?

The city paid about $50,000 for the extra patrols last year, after spending an additional $41,000 in 2008 when the patrols were initiated on April 1, Johanson said. He advised continuing the patrols, and the council agreed at its year-end meeting. It also renewed late-closing licenses for Billy's and Jackson Street Grill.

Rice said that the council is concerned about the extra patrol costs but that the concentration of bars on Jackson needs the extra police. "We have to focus attention on the problem areas of town," he said.

The added patrols are "something we thought was important so we didn't have chaos in our downtown," added Council Member Jeff Weaver.

Only four downtown bars, all on the same block, remain after three others closed since June. In addition to the Jackson Street Grill and Billy's, they are Serum's and River City Saloon, which close at 1 a.m. One bar that closed, Cheap Seats, is expected to reopen this year.

Billy's owner weighs in

Last year, the council passed rules requiring late-closing bars to have bouncers after 11 p.m. on weekends and certain holidays. The late bars also must, after 10 p.m., use disposable cups that identify the bar. Taking drinks outside is illegal.

"I like having people at the door to turn away the falling-down drunks. They just bump into some guy's girlfriend and that's how fights start," Justen said. He said alcohol sales were up last year, but food sales dropped.

"In a tough economy, people lose their jobs and get depressed," he said. "They don't want to feel the pain."