What Bars Are Fredericksburg Police Called To Most?
The Fredericksburg Police Department released a list of police calls to local nightclubs this week.
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After the raid and subsequent charges against the two co-owners of Otter House of having a public nuisuance, it is possible that the Fredericksburg Police Department is targeting other night clubs where there have been a lot of police activity.
The police department cannot comment on any active investigations, but Fredericksburg Police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said that when viewing the PDF of police calls for local nightclubs that involved written reports, it is possible that officers are looking into some of the other clubs that have had recent problems.
The following nightclubs are in the top five in order of number of police calls since Aug. 15, 2011:
1. Otter House: 52.5 calls
2. F.W. Sullivans: 50 calls (only been opened since November 2011)
3. Alladin's: 37 calls
4. Quaker Steak: 35.5 calls
5. Hard Times Cafe (314 Jefferson Davis Hwy location): 29 calls
Fredericksburg Police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said that the following should be considered when viewing the PDF of police calls:
- This list covers incidents from Aug. 15, 2011 through August 6, 2012. This list or something similar to it has been in existence for over a year and was not created in response to recent events. also don't "blame" businesses for these reports; this is simply an accounting of reports/arrests at city restaurants/bars.
- This list does NOT include all police incidents, complaints or calls for service at each business. It only includes those incidents that resulted in a written report and/or arrest.
- The DUI arrests that are attributed to each business result from the offender’s admission of where he/she was drinking prior to the arrest. In cases where the offender named two establishments, that detail is noted with a 0.5 attribution.
- Also not included on this list are ongoing criminal investigations that may be active and involving a business. (In other words, in answer to the question “why aren’t you doing something about insert business name here”, it’s very probable that we are doing something, but we can’t talk about it.)
Otter House co-owner Paul Stoddard said that he isn't proud of the number of incidents and they were trying to improve. He said a lot of the problems were happening on Thursdays but he has since made changes to how Thursday nights are operated and terminated the DJ night.
"We have worked very hard to prevent incidents and had not had one in the whole month of July unless you count the raid," he said. "We just wanted to do something for the younger population and we got overwhelmed by the crowd that follows the college students and young professionals in this city. What's failed to be mentioned are a lot of the positives that we bring to the community. We support charities like SPCA, FARC, Empty bowl drive and breast cancer prevention. Thursdays will never be like that again and we are going to do everything we can to get through August without any incidents just like we did in July."
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Rob Grogan
8:07 am on Thursday, August 16, 2012
Otter House co-owner Paul Stoddard's comments in the final paragraphs indicate a mature and sincere attitude about his business and community. The more you learn here, the more the raid and police procedures seem to have been ill-advised. The police response seems to have been disproportionate to the offense. Opportunities to work with the establishment were not followed up on, and communication stopped. It seems to me that planning and executing a raid that includes a S.W.A.T. team is far more complex and demanding of resources than doing what Mr. Cameli suggested in his emails. I hope the police will work with the owners and help them restore their good name.