The Editorial page of the Daily News provided a review of the last few weeks of downtown post bar crowd violence, as Kris Schumacher used his column to examine the nature of the after hour’s crowd that wanders the downtown core.
The troubles that normally go unobserved and un-reported for the most part over the course of the year, jumped to our attention with a few high profile incidents including stabbings and beatings, one of which left a Prince Rupert man violently beaten on the downtown streets requiring a med-evac flight to Vancouver…
It’s really hard for servers and bartenders to limit how much a person is drinking. Esp. if there are several different people serving the same person. Yes, everyone is supposed to have their “serving it right” before serving alcohol, but the reality is, that if you don’t give your customer what they want, then they might get violent with YOU, instead of with some other drunk person. I’d rather the fights happen outside the establishments than inside.
Just my two cents as someone who’s worked the late night circuit in Rupert. (I worked WITH Kris, actually!)
They’re legally required to stop serving them after they’re visibly intoxicated. Yea–it’s hard, so that means you have to hire servers who aren’t blind.
I agree with the editorial, though. It’s certainly only a few establishments that create this bar crowd–it’s not like the people hanging outside the Coast, Tim’s, and Subway are coming out of Solly’s. With that in mind, perhaps more of an RCMP presence would help–I know they are very active when the Surf is going strong, but perhaps a more solid, obvious presence would keep the knives at home.