News Update: Nightclub Crackdown
posted by on September 11 at 15:23 PM
Apparently the sting continues.
Reports are in from Neumo’s and Havana on Capitol Hill that undercover cops with fake IDs tried to get in on Sunday night. When they were turned down, the undercover cops offered bribes—up to $100 at Havana and $40 at Neumo’s.
They were turned away at both clubs.
By the way, there seems to be some confusion out there. The sting operation itself—when the undercover cops actually witnessed clubs letting in minors and serving them, and letting guns pass (although, not at Tommy’s)—didn’t happen on Saturday night. The undercover work was done in the weeks running up to that. So, for example, even though they believed specific doormen were letting guns in clubs, they didn’t put a stop to it.
All that happened on Saturday night were the arrests. With the warrants in hand (in most cases, anyway), the SPD drove a police bus from club to club and made a big show of the arrests.
“The cops stormed in all SWATted up,” says one bartender.
Interestingly, the SPD had the home addresses of the people they wanted to arrest, but chose to hit the clubs and make the arrests in a grandiose, public fashion on Saturday night.
Striking. All the more reason to generally hate cops.
This is all too common here: Cops wait for the most political moment to pull the trigger
Reichert was chasing the green river killer around for decades before deciding the timing was right to start his political career and arrest ridgeway
I've gotten into Neumo's underage, with no ID and no bribe! I'm 17.
that's because the neumo's bouncers were smart enough to know you weren't an undercover. and before fear factor began.
Aww, Havana. I love that place, especially on Saturday nights at like 1am when that one white girl starts break-dancing. God, I love her.
I don't understand why people are *so* against the nightclub sting. Police efforts at keeping guns and thugs out of clubs is something that's actually of social benefit, unlike ticketing jaywalkers in the U District (seriously, that happened to me).
Nothin' gets past Whitey.
I was at Neumo's on Sunday.. that guy was downright thorough.
The problem Tindalor, isn't about the cops doing their jobs; it's about them doing their "jobs" in a selective fashion, and throwing their collective weight to supporting a round of political grandstanding on behalf of hizzoner.
If the cops were out doing this sort of thing on a regular basis, guess what - 90% of the problem that's currently got the mayor's tighty-whiteys twisted would - ta da! - go away overnight. But, instead we keep hearing the same tired refrain, "not enough manpower!" or something similar from TPTB, while Carr & Nichols, along with their cronies on the City Council continue to put more onus on businesses to do the work of police outside the limits of their own property lines.
If someone could actually compare the number of underage served/consumed or the amount of overserving of say, all the nightclubs in the city versus a single Mariners or Seahawks game, I'd be willing to bet dollars to donut holes on which side would have more violations. But, those are "family activities", in which the City/State has a vested financial stake (via the Public Development Authorities), so they're going to overlook all but the most blatant and egregious violations there.
Going after nightclubs on the other hand is like shooting fish in a barrel: the MS wannabe millionaires inhabiting the habitrail condos nearby don't want to be disturbed of their rest after putting in their 60+ hours a week for "the man"; they're notorious for attracting the "wrong kind" of people (young, urban, ethnic, hedonistic - add your own euphemism here); and they're loud, scary places where scary young people engage in all sorts of illicit and possibly illegal activities (e.g. dancing, drinking, drugs and sex).
Meanwhile the Mayor, in his ongoing quest to turn Seattle into Bellevue-West, gets to pull all of these bullshit grandstand PR displays, with the cooperation of a now-complacent SPD (maybe hizzoner hopes his now-felon son will get some easy treatment at the hands of whichever LE jurisdiction he ends up reporting to, quid-pro-quo), gets to swing his big brass pair by showing how "tough" he is on the issue of law-and-order, making Belltown/P-Square safe for the sleepy denizens of those high-rise crackerbox condos sprouting up like 'shrooms in a rainforest.
Meanwhile, on the back side of Capitol Hill, far away from the upwardly mobile, I'll probably be awakened yet again by the *crack!* of REAL weapons fire, about which the local constabulatory will do next to nothing...
COMTE , dude, is your doc on vacay? Make sure to get that presription filled as soon as possible.
DUDE! A of All) I don't have a "doc"; B of All) I don't take scripted meds; and C of ALL) what the FUCK are you on about?
Totally agree with the 3rd paragraph of Comte's post.
@9,
Yeah, also, if the police had the resources to be constantly on the look-out for crappy and reckless drivers, vehicular accident rates would be way down. But they don't have those resources. The best they can do is set speed traps every now and then -- and the bitching of drivers caught in those speed traps knows no limit.
It's the same deal with enforcing nightlife laws. How many resources is the city supposed to waste forcing bar and club owners to do their jobs?
The point is, the clubs ARE doing their jobs, as Josh has clearly pointed out.
The idea that an undercover cop can arrest a club bouncer for failing to confiscate the weapon of someone the bouncer already KNOWS is an undercover cop is pure bullshit, and just indicates who blatant this entrapment is.
If the clubs are as bad as the cops and the mayor keep saying they are, why do they have to make up these BS "stings" in the first place?
One would think they'd have plenty on their hands dealing with the actual violations they claim are already occuring.
"how blatant", not "who blatant" that is...
wow, bouncer offer prostitute who is undercover cop $40 to blow him and he gets arrested.
undercover cop tries to make illegal bribe to illegally enter nightclub and the bouncer, once again gets fucked.
i heart bacon. especially post 9/11 bacon
@9: If you want the mayor to take an interest in the safety of your neighborhood, you better pray a nightclub opens there.
Well, we've got Thompson's Point-Of-View just down the street, which is as close as we're going to get around here...
Cops are all about bribes.
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