New Push to Stop Club Violence

The Providence Journal:

...Annaldo and Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Paré signaled the new approach at a meeting with owners and others to talk about staggered closing hours.

"We need to marshal the private security to work with the police …" outside, to escort customers to party buses parked nearby and to defuse unruliness, Annaldo said then. Paré made it plain that the city lacked the officers necessary to cope without help.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has laid out in its decisions the duty of liquor license holders: A holder is responsible not merely for the licensed premises but for what happens nearby if there is a link to the premises. The court has not been specific, though, about the limit of the radius.

Likewise, Assistant City Solicitor Sergio A. Spaziano pointed out, a licensee is responsible for trouble, regardless of the proximity, if the licensed business was "a catalyst."

A customer of Monet, a dance club on Harris Avenue, Smith Hill, was shot to death in the club parking lot on Aug. 26, allegedly by another customer. Monet was one of two clubs that lost their licenses and had to shut down during the 1½- year-old Taveras administration....

Read More.