The Editorial page of the Daily News provided a review of the last few weeks of downtown post bar crowd violence, as Kris Schumacher used his column to examine the nature of the after hour’s crowd that wanders the downtown core.
The troubles that normally go unobserved and un-reported for the most part over the course of the year, jumped to our attention with a few high profile incidents including stabbings and beatings, one of which left a Prince Rupert man violently beaten on the downtown streets requiring a med-evac flight to Vancouver.
With the incidents seeming to increase in both number and ferocity of late, it seems that the local detachment of the RCMP has decided that enough is enough and become much more pro-active in their approach to reigning in the trouble makers and trying to keep the situation from escalating as it has in the past.
The full examination could be found on Page four of Wednesday’s Daily News.
I’d love to call ‘time’ on the bar violence
By Kris Schumacher
Contents Under Pressure
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Page Four
If you’re one of the many Prince Rupert residents who has not enjoyed the local nightlife in recent weeks, I fully understand.
Although there’s not as much Saturday night fever left in me these days, and I’m often working my weekends away anyways, I’m less likely than ever to venture out drinking into our downtown core when I get a night off.
And it’s not hard to see why,
The recent string of stabbings and brutal beatings in the late night/early morning hours is cause for concern throughout the community. Why would I want to put myself in a situation where there’s even a remote chance I could get my head kicked in or my stomach split open? As a rule of thumb, I refuse to be scared or intimidated walking the streets of the city where I choose to live. But when it seems that just about anybody can become a victim of vicious violence for no reason other than they were in the vicinity, even grown men exercise caution. At this point in my life I just have too much to lose to put myself in a situation where any of it could be stolen in an instant of drunken stupidity.
It’s somewhat reassuring to know that the RCMP are acting swiftly to prevent any further violence in Prince Rupert’s downtown. Police have visited all the establishments serving alcohol in the area, and recently met withal the bar, pub and restaurant owners to inform them of their increased efforts ensuring public safety on our streets after dark. The RCMP, in collaboration with the liquor inspector, are attempting to put an end to ‘over-serving’, what they see as the reason certain individuals are engaging in violent behavior when they leave an establishment. As far as I can tell, it’s their belief that by cracking down on the amount of alcohol served to customers, the brawls and beat-downs will no longer be an issue.
As someone working in one of said establishments, responsible for serving alcohol, I find that line of logic hard to swallow. Even if over-serving is going on in every one of this city’s saloons, I hardly see how intelligent people can accept that is the real problem. For starters, the people doing the stabbing are carrying knives even before they enter a bar. And to be frank, the violent drinkers are coming out of the same few bars every weekend, so why not focus attention on those establishments and clientele?
The only real solution to the problem is having a police officer standing on the corner Second Avenue and Sixth Street from midnight to 3 a. m. every Friday and Saturday night. I realize the RCMP is strapped for manpower and they aren’t able to dedicate an officer specifically to dealing with the bar crowd, but I don’t see a ‘preventive’ solution to this problem. In a city where close to 90 per cent of the crime is drug- and/or alcohol-related, perhaps the City of Prince Rupert should consider a moratorium on liquor licenses, given that we currently have twice the number of licences as Vancouver per capita.
All I know for sure is that there is a much larger problem with alcohol in this community than simply over-serving. Until the issue is properly addressed, and without a larger police presence downtown on weekends, as far as I can see the violence is not going to end.
The troubles that normally go unobserved and un-reported for the most part over the course of the year, jumped to our attention with a few high profile incidents including stabbings and beatings, one of which left a Prince Rupert man violently beaten on the downtown streets requiring a med-evac flight to Vancouver.
With the incidents seeming to increase in both number and ferocity of late, it seems that the local detachment of the RCMP has decided that enough is enough and become much more pro-active in their approach to reigning in the trouble makers and trying to keep the situation from escalating as it has in the past.
The full examination could be found on Page four of Wednesday’s Daily News.
I’d love to call ‘time’ on the bar violence
By Kris Schumacher
Contents Under Pressure
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Page Four
If you’re one of the many Prince Rupert residents who has not enjoyed the local nightlife in recent weeks, I fully understand.
Although there’s not as much Saturday night fever left in me these days, and I’m often working my weekends away anyways, I’m less likely than ever to venture out drinking into our downtown core when I get a night off.
And it’s not hard to see why,
The recent string of stabbings and brutal beatings in the late night/early morning hours is cause for concern throughout the community. Why would I want to put myself in a situation where there’s even a remote chance I could get my head kicked in or my stomach split open? As a rule of thumb, I refuse to be scared or intimidated walking the streets of the city where I choose to live. But when it seems that just about anybody can become a victim of vicious violence for no reason other than they were in the vicinity, even grown men exercise caution. At this point in my life I just have too much to lose to put myself in a situation where any of it could be stolen in an instant of drunken stupidity.
It’s somewhat reassuring to know that the RCMP are acting swiftly to prevent any further violence in Prince Rupert’s downtown. Police have visited all the establishments serving alcohol in the area, and recently met withal the bar, pub and restaurant owners to inform them of their increased efforts ensuring public safety on our streets after dark. The RCMP, in collaboration with the liquor inspector, are attempting to put an end to ‘over-serving’, what they see as the reason certain individuals are engaging in violent behavior when they leave an establishment. As far as I can tell, it’s their belief that by cracking down on the amount of alcohol served to customers, the brawls and beat-downs will no longer be an issue.
As someone working in one of said establishments, responsible for serving alcohol, I find that line of logic hard to swallow. Even if over-serving is going on in every one of this city’s saloons, I hardly see how intelligent people can accept that is the real problem. For starters, the people doing the stabbing are carrying knives even before they enter a bar. And to be frank, the violent drinkers are coming out of the same few bars every weekend, so why not focus attention on those establishments and clientele?
The only real solution to the problem is having a police officer standing on the corner Second Avenue and Sixth Street from midnight to 3 a. m. every Friday and Saturday night. I realize the RCMP is strapped for manpower and they aren’t able to dedicate an officer specifically to dealing with the bar crowd, but I don’t see a ‘preventive’ solution to this problem. In a city where close to 90 per cent of the crime is drug- and/or alcohol-related, perhaps the City of Prince Rupert should consider a moratorium on liquor licenses, given that we currently have twice the number of licences as Vancouver per capita.
All I know for sure is that there is a much larger problem with alcohol in this community than simply over-serving. Until the issue is properly addressed, and without a larger police presence downtown on weekends, as far as I can see the violence is not going to end.
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