By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
While most of Bowling Green was asleep last weekend, for a brief period the downtown bar area erupted with fights and gunshots.
City and police officials are discussing possible steps to boost safety and prevent such incidents downtown. They want residents and visitors to feel safe – and the city’s reputation to not be tarnished by bursts of violence from bar patrons.
But they also don’t want to over-react to a rash of incidents that was an anomaly for a summertime weekend in downtown Bowling Green.
“We don’t want to be judged on a couple incidents over a month,” Mayor Mike Aspacher said.
“Public health and safety will always be my No. 1 priority,” Aspacher said. “I am of course concerned. We always want anyone who lives in BG or visits BG to be safe.”
Aspacher was doing a ride-along with police Friday night into early Saturday morning last weekend. He ended his ride-along when he could sense problems growing in the downtown bar area and he decided his presence may be a distraction.
“I was extremely impressed with the actions of the officers,” the mayor said.
Between 1 and 2:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, police responded to three fights in the North Main and Court Street area of downtown involving groups of 10-15 people, gunshots fired in a parking lot next to a downtown bar, and an assault in which a group of people “jumped” and seriously injured a man in the 100 block of East Wooster Street.
BGPD Major Justin White said there has been an increase in people downtown at night since the end of COVID restrictions that closed bars early. Though this past weekend seemed chaotic, it wasn’t much worse than police deal with on a regular basis, he said.
“It isn’t anything we haven’t seen in the past,” White said.
Most of the problems occur right before and after closing time at bars.
“These are young college-age people consuming alcohol, who tend to loiter around rather than leaving the area,” White said.
Police can ask people to disperse, he said.
“Legally, it depends what the crowd is doing,” White explained. “If there’s turbulent behavior” police can ask them to leave the area. “A lot of times people hang around to see what’s going to happen.”
People refusing to disperse can be charged with obstructing official business or disorderly conduct.
“We would rather they just leave that area,” White said. “We’re not trying to be a killjoy. We want them to be safe. We can see better than they can after a night in the bars, that they should leave.”
Weather plays a role, since people are far less likely to loiter around in the cold or rain.
This past weekend, the majority of the people charged for incidents downtown were from Toledo. That is not unusual, White said.
“A lot of higher level crimes are committed by people who don’t live in Bowling Green,” he said.
White believes that people from cities like Toledo come to the bars in Bowling Green because of its small city atmosphere.
“They feel like they’re less likely to get in altercations” with other bar patrons, he said. “They feel safer in our city.”
The numbers of people downtown at night increase when Bowling Green State University is in session. But city officials don’t believe problems downtown on weekends will necessarily mount when students are back.
“We have nothing to suggest it will continue to rise,” White said.
Increased violence means increased risks to police officers who intervene to stop fights. This past weekend, some officers suffered minor injuries, White said.
“I’m always concerned about the safety of our officers,” Aspacher said.
The police division already staffs accordingly for the downtown area on heavy bar nights. Shifts overlap during the busiest times.
“It allows us to have the most officers on during the busiest times,” White said.
At bar closing times, the police division has officers patrolling on foot, on bikes and in cruisers.
If more officers are needed, the first call goes out to ask the next shift to show up early.
“We never have any issue getting people in quickly if we need them,” White said.
In the case of large critical situations, the police division has an “all on call” policy, plus mutual aid agreements with the BGSU Police, Wood County Sheriff’s Office, and the Ohio State Patrol.
And BGPD trains regularly for handling emergencies outside the norm, White said.
City leadership has “ongoing communication” with the police division on issues such as the weekend downtown incidents.
“We’re certainly always supportive of the police,” Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter said. “We value the professionalism of our safety services.”
“We’re committed to providing them with the resources they need,” Aspacher said.
The police division currently has 39 officers, and is in the process of hiring two more to fill positions of recently retired officers.
Officials are talking about the possibility of increasing police staffing during high incident times downtown. There are contingencies in the police budget for overtime costs.
The city and police division have also worked other ways to increase safety in the downtown area. LED lighting has been installed to improve visibility, and cameras have been positioned – with the help of the city’s electric and public works departments.
There are about 17 camera locations downtown – with each site having three cameras recording round the clock. The footage appears in the dispatch area, but the police division does not have staff to continually monitor them. They are primarily used to help identify the people involved in incidents.
“They’ve assisted us in numerous crimes,” White said.
After this past weekend, an owner of one downtown bar, located near the parking lot where gunshots were fired, contacted police about getting increased lighting in the lot. The police and city electric division are working on it, White said.
City officials assured that the incidents downtown are not going unnoticed.
“We can’t have our head in the sand,” Tretter said.
“We pride ourselves in our public safety services,” Aspacher said. “It’s been made clear this is a high priority for the community.”
