Police Move Against Party-Fueled Violence

• By SEAN GARDINER

After the Wall Street workday ends, increasing numbers of partygoers have been flocking to Lower Manhattan bars, clubs, booze cruises and loft bashes this summer. But it hasn't been all good times.

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Timothy Fadek for The Wall Street Journal

A police cruiser drives past Greenhouse, the site of the First Precinct's only homicide this year. Club officials said the fight wasn't related to the club.

A 71% spike in felony assaults between July 12 and Aug. 8 that included three separate shooting incidents in which one man was killed and four were wounded "can be directly attributed to nightlife in the First Precinct," according to an internal police memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The precinct's only homicide this year occurred outside Greenhouse, which bills itself as the city's only eco-friendly club, in the predawn hours of July 18. After being denied entry into the Varick Street club, a 32-year-old emergency-medical technician got into a fight with men outside the nightspot and was shot and killed. Club officials did not respond to calls for comment, but said in the past that the fight was not related to their club.

In response to the recent spike in violence, Capt. Edward Winski, commanding officer of the First Precinct, which encompasses the area south of the Brooklyn Bridge and a wedge west of Broadway up to Houston Street, issued a memo to his officers Aug. 9 detailing a new "Late Tour Violence Reduction Plan."

At the center of the plan is the creation of a new Cabaret/Conditions Unit. A sergeant and five officers working from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. will be "responsible for monitoring all nightlife locations and addressing any associated crime, quality of life and traffic conditions," the memo states.

More operations targeting underage drinking will be conducted, and the precinct's field-intelligence officer has been ordered to concentrate on gathering information and warning precinct supervisors about any upcoming special events at bars and clubs.

The violence-reduction plan also has pushed back by two hours the precinct Anti-Crime Unit's Friday and Saturday night shifts so that those officers will be on duty past 4 a.m. Other steps include more coordination and participation by vice, narcotics, traffic and civil-enforcement units that will "commence Nuisance Abatement proceedings against problematic bars/clubs" in an attempt to shut them down. Mr. Winski wasn't available to comment on his plan, but police officials confirmed its substance.

"I think it's a fantastic idea provided that the Cabaret Unit is educated about the nuances and attributes of nightlife," said Paul Seres, president of the New York Nightlife Association, whose website says it represents more than 150 bars, clubs and lounges in the city.

Mr. Seres said that a now-disbanded citywide NYPD Cabaret Unit was very effective because its officers got to know the operators at various nightspots and understood which clubs and bars were acting responsibly—and which weren't.

Derrick Parker, a retired NYPD detective who now operates GB & DP Security, which provides nightclub security, said closer police scrutiny has made it increasingly more difficult for some party promoters to throw their soirees at the clubs in Chelsea and Midtown. So they've been forced to seek out venues elsewhere, he said.

"Between 29th and 54th streets, the police have been coming down hard on these clubs," Mr. Parker said. "So people have been moving, and they moved to the lower part of Manhattan. There are a lot of promoters looking for venues in that area and parties have been popping up all over the place."

Including, he said, outside Manhattan. Mr. Parker said big-money parties featuring big-name acts that once took place exclusively in Manhattan have been held in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx this summer. One party at a strip club in Woodside in recent weeks cleared more than $50,000 in door fees and bar profits, he said.

However, Mr. Parker said he sees potential problems with what he jokingly referred to as the "great club flight" out of the city. Because the clubs in Chelsea and Midtown are under constant police scrutiny, most of them follow the law and hire only licensed bouncers, he said. But that may not be the case in the boroughs outside Manhattan, he said.

Also, most of the clubs in Manhattan are situated in nonresidential neighborhoods. So if some clubgoer gets into a fight or gets ejected, it usually takes a long time to go home, grab a gun or other weapon and return seeking revenge, he said.

Cooler heads usually prevail, Mr. Parker said. But that might not be the case at some of these parties in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx.

"Sooner or later there's going to be a drive-by" shooting, he said. "It's gonna happen, believe me."

Write to Sean Gardiner at sean.gardiner@wsj.com