GREENSBORO - The city will explore adding more police officers, installing surveillance cameras and increasing fines for overcrowded clubs to improve downtown Greensboro.
Public safety officials floated those ideas and others to the City Council as ways to help increase security in the bustling center city.
City staff will need to do more research on some of the recommendations before they can happen.
Other suggestions, such as changing the overcrowding ordinance, will require a council vote.
The issue of safety downtown bubbled up earlier this summer, when the council voted to extend the hours sidewalk cafes are allowed to operate.
Council members, public safety officials and business leaders have debated what kind of downtown activity is right for Greensboro.
Crowding at clubs and bars can cause problems inside businesses and on the streets, especially during an emergency, said Assistant Fire Chief David Douglas.
In the past two years, the fire department has issued 14 citations to downtown clubs that had too many people inside, Douglas said.
Citations for overcrowding and blocked exits each come with a $150 fine.
But Douglas said the fines are not enough to make business owners know the city is serious.
"Our ordinance for overcrowding is not enough to deter club owners from rolling the dice," Douglas said.
City staff recommended upping the fine to $100 per person for clubs that are over capacity and $500 per blocked or obstructed exit.
Council members pointed out that not all club owners are causing problems, but they want to be tough on those who are.
"We don't have time to fool with guys who aren't going to comply with the law," Councilman Robbie Perkins said. "Otherwise, you are just training them to misbehave."
Assistant Police Chief Harold Scott recommended the city appoint a full-time fire inspector to deal with downtown.
He also suggested adding more full-time police officers to work the area.
Currently, the department hires some officers to work overtime on busy nights to help the police officers who already work the downtown patrol.
Council members said they would leave it to the department's discretion to move staff as it sees fit.
City leaders also recommended adding EMTs on bicycles to help police deal with intoxicated people.
The city manager's office will work with Guilford County to make the plan work.
City staff will look into installing surveillance cameras, a new security measure that Greensboro already has added to some buildings and will soon add on city buses.
City officials still must study the costs of such a project, as well as where the cameras would be needed.
"We're all for downtown. It beats the dickens out of a ghost town," Douglas said. "We're trying to work with these people and just make a safe area down there."
Some of the recommendations will require the approval of the council before changes are made.
"It is really a situation that needs attention," said Councilwoman Sandra Anderson Groat.
"We can't afford to have anything happen downtown."
