The city of Springfield, Massachusetts may require all late-night businesses to have a police-approved security plan. Family and friends of a man shot dead at a 24-hour gas station earlier this year applaud the proposal.
The city’s Law Department has been asked to draft a licensing ordinance that could require gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants, hotels, and other businesses open past 11 p.m. to install surveillance cameras and lighting, potentially costing thousands of dollars.
City Councilor Tom Ashe, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, said once the ordinance is written he plans to bring it before the committee and then to the full council for a vote.
" We are happy businesses have chosen Springfield, but our responsibility is to the safety of the public and that means if businesses want to stay open past 11 and it costs them a little more money to do so for the benefit of public safety, I think that is a fair compromise," said Ashe.
City officials cannot estimate how many businesses might be impacted.
At a meeting of the public safety committee Monday, Springfield Police Commissioner John Barbieri said requiring surveillance cameras and bright exterior lights at late-night businesses would deter crime.
"The goal would be first and foremost to make people safe going there and assist us in the aftermath if anything should occur," said Barbieri.
Barbieri pointed to the success of “Project Green Light” in Detroit. The voluntary program began in January 2016 with eight gas stations that agreed to pay $4,000-$6,000 to install high-definition cameras and lighting, and coordinate a high priority police response. Violent crime at the participating businesses is down 50 percent.
Lobbying for improved security at late-night businesses are community activists and the friends and family of the late Ivery Downie. The 36-year-old Springfield man was shot and killed in the early morning hours of May 11 after he stopped to buy gasoline and cigarettes at a 24-hour service station on North Main Street off Interstate 91. No arrests have been made for the murder.
Tasha Clark, a cousin of Downie, said if cameras had been operational the killing could have been solved – or possibility prevented.
"We probably would have more answers than questions at this point," said Clark.
Vera Cage, of the Community Coalition for Justice, organized a vigil at the gas station earlier this month where participants called for additional security measures.
" We realize that things need to change to protect public safety," said Cage.
In 2015, two people were shot and wounded at the gas station during the early morning hours.
