MEMORANDUM       

January 14, 2004

To:       Mike Wildgen, City Manager

From:  W. Ronald Olin, Chief of Police

Ref.:    Drinking Establishments Downtown

            I requested an analysis from our Crime Analysis Unit of downtown police activity at the 46 establishments that have drinking establishment licenses. I then reviewed the raw data, requested additional analysis on specific establishments, and looked at data that, though not tied to specific establishments, represents activity that appears to be related to drinking establishments being located in the downtown area.  I would like to define the limitations of the data, discuss general observations, and offer anecdotal information from patrol officers and staff.  Additionally, I’ve drawn some conclusions near the end of this report concerning the impact this area of Lawrence has on the Police Department resources.

            We started our data search with the broad category of calls for service at licensed downtown drinking establishments.  “Calls for service” in police data collection is an inclusive definition that involves any time that a police officer is assigned or “calls out” at a specific location.  Calls for service could involve a fight in progress, a bar check, or a major felony.  The category also includes going to an address to interview a victim, perform a citizen’s assist, or some other activity self-initiated by the officer.  Thus, while numbers may be quite high for calls for service to some establishments, this does not necessarily indicate a law enforcement problem or the need to write a report.  By reviewing the number of calls for service which are serious enough to warrant writing a report, one can better evaluate the necessity of police service/intervention.  We concentrated our analysis, then, on the five drinking establishments with the highest number of police reports in 2003 (see attached statistics):

· Brothers – 1105 Massachusetts

· Granada – 1020 Massachusetts

· Last Call – 729 New Hampshire

· Abe & Jakes – 8 East 6^th

· Fatso’s – 1016 Massachusetts

            During our study of the police reports associated with these drinking establishments, we found that the reports could be divided into two basic categories: incidents associated with consuming alcohol/drugs (minors in possession, and possession of marijuana) and more serious crimes (aggravated battery, assault, sexual battery, etc.).  A total of 93 reports were initiated in 2003 for these two categories (49 and 44, respectively) at these five establishments.  Note - of the 49 drug/alcohol incidents, 47 were minor in possession (MIP) offences.

We also analyzed the police reports at “generic” locations that were recorded according to the block where the incident occurred.  In other words, the police report was in response to a call for service or incident that could not be tied to a particular address or business. 

Looking just at the 600 through 1100 blocks of Massachusetts, police reports from 2003 were initiated for 300 incidents ranging from disorderly conduct types of offences (criminal trespass, urinating in public, etc.) to more serious crimes (rape, battery, burglary, etc.), as well as offences directly related to drug/alcohol use in public (minors in possession, OUI, consuming in public, possession of marijuana).  It is significant to note that these 300 offences are in addition to the 93 police reports that were initiated in 2003 and tied to the previously mentioned five drinking establishments.  It is also significant that we have not yet done a detailed analysis on the “border” streets of New Hampshire and Vermont.  New Hampshire is the location of one of the top five drinking establishments (Last Call) and another of the top five has close proximity to New Hampshire St. (Abe & Jakes).   Of the 300 offences noted here, 89 offences were directly related to drug/alcohol use in public and the remaining 211 were more serious crimes, as noted above.

            Even with some challenges in interpretation of the data, it is obvious that the downtown area is an active one for police intervention.  The numbers reflect that nearly 10% of the calls for service in 2002 city-wide and 9.8% of all of the calls for service in 2003 city-wide occurred downtown.  Just over one-half of calls for service downtown occurred at licensed drinking establishments (53% in 2002, 54% in 2003).  The remainder of these calls for service occurred at other businesses, shelters, churches, or on the street, as noted above.

            When we look at reports written by police officers, seven percent of all police reports in both 2002 and 2003 were generated in the downtown district.  Of the police reports downtown, 75% were associated with drinking establishments in 2002 and 76% with drinking establishments in 2003.

            Anecdotally, police officers and supervisors report that the calls for service and generation of police reports in the downtown area, particularly Thursday to Sunday between the hours of 0100 and 0330 in the morning use a substantial amount of police resources.  These interventions are influenced by several factors that are not usually present at other times of the day.  Most early morning police actions are conducted with persons who have been drinking and are, in most cases, intoxicated; the contacts usually are with crowds or large numbers of persons; and the officers continue to report either significant threats of violence or the presence of weapons in the interactions.  The officers and staff also point out the apparent success of Lawrence entertainment establishments in attracting crowds of persons who do not reside in our city.  In many cases, it is the kinds of crowds that are present, or the interactions among differently motivated groups, that leads to crisis and police intervention.

            If I may provide additional information, please let me know.

                                                                                    W. Ronald Olin

                                                                                    Chief of Police

att.

Downtown area of interest

Detailed breakdown of downtown area of interest by block	2002 Calls For Service	2002 Reports	2003 Calls For Service	2003 Reports	% Change from 2002 and 2003 based on CFS	%Change from 2002 and 2003 based on Reports
600 Block of Mass	278	70	264	58	-5	-17
700 Block of Mass	532	69	521	88	-2	28
800 Block of Mass	532	65	534	78	0	20
900 Block of Mass	1007	88	1136	94	13	7
1000 Block of Mass	752	132	868	144	15	9
1100 Block of Mass	466	70	546	82	17	17
700 Block of New Hampshire	330	71	293	54	-11	-24
800 Block of New Hampshire	197	37	242	30	23	-19
600 Block of Vermont	163	19	156	17	-4	-11
900 Block of Vermont	247	15	204	29	-17	93
Total (s)	4504	636	4764	674

Downtown drinking establishments prioritized by # of 2003 LKPD reports

Detail breakdown of "downtown" area of interest by location.	2002 Calls For Service	2002 Reports	2003 Calls For Service	2003 Reports	% Change from 2002 and 2003 based on CFS	% Change from 2002 and 2003 based on Reports
Brothers Bar & Grill 1105 Mass.	124	23	229	33	85	43
Granada 1020 Massachusetts	99	20	111	25	12	25
Last Call 729 New Hampshire	42	2	44	18	5	800
Abe & Jakes Landing 8 E. 6th Street	114	28	116	17	2	-39
Fatso's 1016 Massachusetts	56	19	68	15	21	-21
Quinton's Bar & Deli 615 Mass.	53	19	60	9	13	-53
Louise’s Downtown 1009 Mass.	42	4	56	9	33	125
Edlridge House 701 Massachusetts	41	5	34	9	-17	80
Jack Pot Saloon & Music Hall 943 Massachusetts	28	6	32	8	14	33
Free State Brewing 636 Mass.	25	2	27	8	8	300
Chipotle Mexican Grill 911 Mass.	146	6	250	7	71	17
Replay Lounge 946 Massachusetts	59	6	73	6	24	0
PaPa Keno's Pizzeria 1035 Mass.	26	0	39	6	50	NC
Jazzhaus  926 1/2 Mass.	17	3	32	6	88	100
Pizza Hut 934 Massachusetts	23	4	16	6	-30	50
Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar 1012 Massachusetts	36	4	90	5	150	25
Brewhawk 733 Massachusetts	71	1	62	5	-13	400
Eight One Five 815 New Hampshire	49	6	36	5	-27	-17
Teller's 746 Massachusetts	18	3	35	5	94	67
Jefferson's Restaurant 743 Mass.	24	2	47	4	96	100
Red Lyon Tavern 944 Massachusetts	23	0	21	4	-9	NC
Rudy's Pizzeria 704 Massachusetts	11	3	11	3	0	0
Bottleneck 737 New Hampshire	19	4	36	2	89	-50
Henry's on Henry Street 11E 8th St.	12	2	22	2	83	0
Mad Greek 907 Massachusetts	16	1	17	2	6	100
Harbour Lights 1031 Massachusetts	35	2	17	2	-51	0
Bourgeois Pig 6 E. 9th Street	23	1	14	2	-39	100
Rick's Place 623 Vermont	14	4	13	2	-7	-50
India Palace 129 E. 10th Street	5	0	8	2	60	NC
Maceli's Marvelous Meals 1117 Mass.	3	1	4	2	33	100
Meat Market 811 New Hampshire	5	0	55	1	1000	NC
La Familia 733 New Hampshire	24	1	27	1	13	0
Milton's Coffee & Wine 920 Mass.	11	1	22	1	100	0
Wheatfield's, L.L.C. 904 Vermont	4	0	16	1	300	NC
Buffalo Bob's Smokehouse 719 Mass.	13	1	13	1	0	0
Eighth St.Tap Room 801 NH	12	2	10	1	-17	-50
Mojo's 714 Vermont, Suite A	10	2	6	1	-40	-50
Mass Street Deli 941 Massachusetts	18	0	45	0	150	NC
Sandbar 17 E. 8th Street	11	0	15	0	36	NC
Paradise Café 728 Massachusetts	31	1	12	0	-61	-100
Zen Zero, Inc. 811 Massachusetts	4	1	9	0	125	-100
La Parilla 814 Massachusetts	11	2	9	0	-18	-100
Thai House Restaurant 724 Mass.	5	0	7	0	40	NC
Wa Restaurant 740 Massachusetts	6	1	3	0	-50	-100
Liberty Hall, Inc 642 Massachusetts	3	1	2	0	-33	-100
Total (s)	1597	213	2043	264

Note: some locations may have had a drinking establishment business for only a portion of the year or more than one business during the year. (for example, Jack Pot Saloon & Music Hall at 943 Massachusetts is listed but wasn’t active at that location in 2003; the site was previously La Tasca and before that, Low Rider Mexican, both downtown licensed drinking establishments)