BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – A viral video of a fight on Third Street has led the owner of Violet Nightclub to meet with the mayor’s office last week to push for more security downtown. Baton Rouge police said they will now station additional officers in areas like Third Street when they know a large crowd is expected.
Bar owner requests more security
Violet Nightclub owner David Facey met with the mayor’s office last week to push for a security plan of his own. The plan included:
- Having at least three Baton Rouge police officers at the club each night it is open.
- Creating a system to track violent and criminal incidents.
- Establishing a new plan for what happens after the club closes.
- Strengthening partnerships between businesses and law enforcement.
“We want to make sure that we have the right public and private partnership in place so that we are being a good steward in the broader community,” Facey told WAFB Aug. 19.
Police respond with added patrols
Baton Rouge police said they agree more security is needed downtown. Moving forward, BRPD will put additional officers in areas like Third Street when officers know there will be a large crowd.
This past Sunday night, BRPD learned of an event at another bar downtown and sent additional officers as a precaution.
“We decided to bring additional officers down here for just in case purposes and when we learned there wasn’t anything big in nature, those officers were able to go back to the streets about their everyday patrol,” said BRPD’s L’Jean McKneely.
Neighboring bar owner reports fewer issues
Over the past few months, Daniel Unda, owner of Somewhere Bar next to Violet Nightclub, had raised concerns over how his neighbor handled crowds. Unda now says conditions have improved…