So Where Are the Cops?

By Gamal Hennessy

Several people were stabbed over the weekend outside a TriBeCa club. The violence that occurred is the latest incident involving this venue and is sure to be used as an example of out of control nightlife here in the city. Unfortunately, incidents like this might be inevitable given the current position of the New York Police Department. Until nightlife venues are given the same police protection as other venues, violence will be a part of the nightlife experience.

Deco has several aspects to it that make it a less than ideal example of a New York venue. According to Matthew Chayes of New York Newsday, Deco has been operating without a liquor license since January 3, 2009 and it was the scene of two shootings in 2007. On Saturday night, two people were allegedly slashed with razor blades by Mario Olmedo. Later that same evening there was a report that three more people were attacked with blades outside the same venue.

Newsday wasn’t able to contact the operators of Deco for a statement, but the ripples are already being felt in the industry. Operators who were planning to move the Flatiron performance space Cutting Room to TriBeCa withdrew his scheduled appearance before the community board yesterday because he didn’t want the backlash from Deco to influence the decision on his liquor license.

It is an unfortunate fact of nightlife that fanatics and amateurs get most of the attention when it comes to news stories about nightlife. Very few pages are written about the tens of thousands of patrons who go out, have a good time and get home safely without slicing each other up in the street. It is objectionable that these incidents occur in spite of the fact that nightlife advocates have repeatedly requested the ability to have uniformed police officers patrolling the streets near venues during peak hours. One of the major points that came out of the Nightlife Summit of 2006 was a specific request by the New York Nightlife Association to have paid police patrols outside clubs to enforce laws that club security can’t enforce outside the venue. This request was, and continues to be rejected by the NYPD because it could potentially breed “corruption between the club owners and the cops.”

Serious violence is rare in nightlife, but as long as there are fanatics out there, the potential for violence exists. But while the NYPD protects itself from potential corruption, operators are held responsible for violence that they do not have the authority to control. They suffer the wrath of the irate community board members looking for any reason to shut down our venues. We as patrons are left to fend for ourselves among the fanatics when we go out, creating a situation where some of us will have to go to the hospital when our night is over.

Have fun.
G