Paying it safe: Iowa City bar owners picking up tab for increased patrols

A few bar owners are paying to have more police officers patrol Iowa City's Pedestrian Mall on weekend nights.

The unusual arrangement, which began a month ago, resulted from growing public safety concerns, particularly with late-night fights, in the popular entertainment district.

The effort appears to be helping, police and bar owners say.

“The dynamic of the crowd has kind of changed. You don't get the people that are coming down there just to cause problems anymore,” said Marty Maynes, owner of the Union Bar.

Maynes came up with the idea. The Union is one of six Pedestrian Mall bars paying for the overtime patrols. The others, he said, are the Fieldhouse, Vito's, Martini's, TCB and Dc's.

Two extra officers patrol the mall - which is a specific part of the downtown and home to several of the bigger college student-oriented bars - from 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays until 2:30 the next morning.

The bars contract with the Police Department. The cost factors in salary and benefits and on one recent weekend totaled $894.11, said Capt. Matt Johnson, the department's field operations commander.

At least two patrol officers are assigned to downtown on a typical weekend night, although that increases for events like home Iowa football games, Sgt. Troy Kelsay said.

The two extra officers are in addition to that. They patrol the mall on foot. The bar owners have no say in how they are used and receive no preferential treatment. The bars' only involvement is paying the bill.

Johnson said such a funding mechanism is “moderately unpalatable” to him, but the department needs more officers in the Pedestrian Mall. “I think it increases safety, and I guess that's the bottom line,” he said.

Chief Sam Hargadine has said for a couple of years that he needs more officers. A proposed fee on natural gas and electric bills expected to be approved by the City Council would fund six new officers.

Contract jobs are not uncommon. The Iowa Department of Transportation sometimes contracts for construction zones, and a bank might do so for extra security after a robbery, Hargadine said.

But this arrangement with the bars may be unique, with Johnson and Maynes saying they are unaware of such a setup anywhere else.

Police in the college towns of Ames, Madison, Wis., and Champaign, Ill., also had not heard of a similar deal.

Champaign Sgt. Scott Friedlein said he does work across the country on alcohol-related issues and hasn't come across anything like it. He likes the concept. “That's really, truly a community approach,” he said.

In Iowa City, calls for fights and assaults were up 31 percent the first three months of this year over the same period the year before.

Hargadine and Johnson agreed with Maynes that the effort launched since then appears to be helping, although the evidence so far is anecdotal. “In general, the more officers you have, the less trouble there's going to be,” Hargadine said.

Leah Cohen, owner of Bo-James restaurant and bar, said it is a great idea and that the Downtown Association of Iowa City, of which she is president, always supports having more officers downtown.

“There's something about a police presence that tends to promote peace,” she said with a laugh.

Maynes said he wants the extra patrols to continue as long as school is in session.

“Now that it's out there and people know ... it's going to make them think twice about doing anything stupid,” he said.