Venue Incident Form

CALIFORNIA MUSIC AND CULTURE ASSOCIATION, INC [CMAC]
INCIDENT REPORT FORM
PLEASE KEEP A COPY OF THIS COMPLETED FORM IN YOUR FILES AND MAIL A COPY TO
CMAC, c/o Hinman & Carmichael LLP, 260 California Street, # 1001, San Francisco, CA 94111

The purpose of this Incident Report Form is to create a database of interactions between ABC licensed venues and officers from the ABC and/or the SFPD and other enforcement agencies (i.e., Entertainment Commission, SFPD, Human Rights Commission, etc.). The information will be used to document the scope and purpose of enforcement actions in order to further the education and training of the licensed venue community and to assist in the development of venue operating standards. The information will also be useful in the defense of a venue against a criminal charge or an ABC Administrative Accusation proceeding.

DATE: ___________ TIME: _________ VENUE: _________________

ADDRESS OF VENUE: ______________________________________

ABC LICENSE TYPE: __________

SF ENTERTAINMENT PERMITS: ________________________________

WEATHER CONDITIONS: ______________________________________

SIDEWALK AND EXTERIOR CONDITIONS [TRAFFIC, PEDESTRIANS, LINES, CROWDS, ETC.]:

_________________________________________________________________________________


1. DESCRIBE INCIDENT [NARRATIVE, USE ADDITIONAL SHEETS IF NECESSARY]:
_________________________________________________________________________________




2. NAME OF PERSON ARRESTED/STOPPED/QUESTIONED [INCLUDE ADDRESS/PHONE/EMAIL ADDRESS]:________________________________________________________________________

3. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF PERSON [AGE, HEIGHT, WEIGHT, HAIR/EYE COLOR, DRESS]: __________________________________________________________________________________

4. WAS IDENTIFICATION ASKED FOR? ________ WAS IDENTIFICATION SHOWN? ___________

5. DESCRIBE IDENTIFICATION [TYPE, PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION, AGE SHOWN, ETC.]

____________________________________________________________________
6. DID INDENTIFICATION MATCH PERSON? ____________________________________________

7. STATEMENTS OF PERSON [USE ADDITIONAL SHEETS IF NECESSARY]: __________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

8. NAME, AGENCY AND BADGE [STAR] NUMBER OF OFFICER: ___________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________

9. DESCRIPTION OF OFFICER [AGE, HEIGHT, WEIGHT, HAIR/EYE COLOR, DRESS (UNIFORM OR PLAIN CLOTHES)]: _______________________________________________________________________

10. OFFICER STATEMENTS [USE ADDITIONAL SHEETS IF NECESSARY: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________

11. CRIMINAL OR ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION CITED BY OFFICER AS BASIS FOR ACTION: _____________________________________________________________________________


12. DISPOSITION OF MATTER [ARREST AND IN CUSTODY, WARNING, CITATION OR NO ACTION – ATTACH COPY OF CITATION IF ONE ISSUED]: ___________________________________________________________________________

13. WAS INCIDENT VIDEOTAPED BY SECURITY CAMERAS OR PERSONAL CELLPHONE (IF YES, WHERE IS COPY OF VIDEO?]: _____________________________________________________________________________

14. WAS ANY TESTING EQUIPMENT USED BY OFFICERS [NOISE METERS, ETC.]? IF SO PLEASE DESCRIBE:

_______________________________________________________________________
15. WERE YOU FURNISHED WITH COPIES OF TEST RESULTS? [IF SO PLEASE ATTACH]:_______________________________________________________________

16. PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THE OFFICERS [POLITE? THREATENING? PROFESSIONAL? OTHER?]: _______________________________________________________________________

17. DID THE OFFICERS ASK TO COME IN OR DID THEY JUST ENTER?

_______________________________________________________________________
18, DID YOU OR ANY MEMBER OF YOUR STAFF INVITE THE OFFICER TO ENTER?


ANY OTHER INFORMATION THAT IS RELEVANT [I.E., PRIOR EXPERIENCE WITH OFFICER, PRIOR INCIDENTS WITH OFFICER, HISTORY OF PRIOR CITATIONS, ETC.]:

__________________________________________________________


Person completing form:

name: ________________________________

title: __________________________________

venue: ________________________________

cell: _________________________________

email: ________________________________

reviewed by: _____________________(owner)

NYE 2009 compliance ALERT

We have received additional information and recommendations for you to follow tonight and every night. We understands from reliable sources that the SFPD and the ABC are going to focus their enforcement efforts on SF music and entertainment venues on NYE. The message is "zero tolerance" for any breach of regulations or license conditions. The enforcement will be by both uniformed and undercover ABC and SFPD officers.

WE SUGGEST:

1. We urge you to carefully monitor the conduct of your patrons and of your employees. If any incidents do occur, we also strongly encourage you to use the attached form for reporting purposes, Please make several copies of the form before the evening commences, and have them available at your venue.

2. Have your legal occupancy posted on each floor. Maintain in-and-out clickers and do not exceed your legal capacity.

3. Have your Place of Entertainment, Extended Hours, SF Business license, current ABC license and SFPD assembly permits posted behind the bar [or easily accessible]. Make sure all permits are current. We suggest that you have a duplicate copy of ALL permits to give to enforcement agents upon their request.

4. Consider having a staff person with a video camera tape any encounter with the SFPD and ABC.

5. Be polite and professional with ABC and the police or fire department tonight. They MAY be aggressive and seem rude to you. It is hard to remember when it is happening to you, but these officers are dealing with nothing but problems and drunks all night; it may affect their attitudes. You and your staff should remain calm and professional. It may seem that they want you to get mad so they can arrest or cite you for interfering with an ABC investigation. Insist on professionalism from your staff no matter what the circumstances.

6. Be extremely diligent with checking ID's at the front door. Think about videotaping everyone and their id's at the front door to prove the patron had an id when they entered the club. If you have a video system make sure it is working properly-- test it now.

7. Keep your front door, sidewalk and front line clear and orderly. Put your smartest security person up front and charge them with interacting with the police, and caution them to be professional, courteous and responsive to the demands made to them by the police.

8. If the task force shows up have a sharp staff person with you as a witness at all times when you interact with the police or ABC. When they leave both of you should fill out reports and debrief each other so you get all details of the encounter down on your reports. Both of you should carry a small notebook and make notes of what was said, badge numbers etc.

9. Some venues have advertised "open bars". This is considered to be encouraging intemperance. The appropriate methodology is to issue each patron a set number of alcoholic drink tickets (5 to 10) and to keep non-alcoholic drinks available at all times.

10. Do NOT serve obviously intoxicated patrons. This is not allowed by the ABC code and you should not allow it tonight or any other night.

11. Check your bar for fruit flies in the bottles. Bugs will cost you 5 days or a $1500 fine.


While we know that all venue operations are improving to meet the challenges of the times, tonight will be a night on which we will all be judged. Have a successful night, be safe and ring in a great 2010.

San Francisco Late Night Coalition
Terrance Alan
Chairman

Compliance Compliance Compliance

The name of the game is compliance and the penalties for being out of compliance are severe. To help the licensed entertainment community the California Music and Culture Association, a newly formed trade group, recently held a compliance workshop and the attandance was out the door. With an estimated one hundred club owners and managers showing up for a 90 minute presentation by a star studded attorney panel with only 5 days notice, you can tell people are scared.

So what happened to bring everyone out to listen to a group of attorneys?

Well from the best we can tell, there is a rouge element in the SF police department that is bouncing from one venue to another around the city intimidating management, arresting employees and inaccurately issuing citations. The net result is that responsible management and owners are concerned that they will become the next target and from what we have heard, you don't want to be that target.

Confiscating equipment, arresting bartenders, issuing citations for allowing patrons to wait on the sidewalk for a cab and threatening patrons are some of the stories what we are hearing and the sources are not just one or two clubs. On last Saturday alone over 8 complaints came into our hot line from concerned management wondering what to do with these unwelcome and unruly police officers.

Our answer is to be in compliance until we can get the message to the Mayor and the Police Chief that this is a waste of resources. It may satisfy a few egos, but it does nothing to help restore the consumer confidence to encourage shopping in San Francisco and help struggling merchants stay in business.

SFLNC gets a NEW look

After about 3 years being dormant (trying to live our lives like normal peeps) we have re-designed the SFLNC website. Why? Two reasons; we needed a new look and the ABC. The old site was the love child of the dot com boom and the enthusiasm of one great guy, Mike Migurski. He created a state-of-the-art data base site that served us for the last 7 years and NEVER broke down. My hat is off to you Mike where ever you are and may the late night Goddess give you what you want whenever you want it. But the real reason for the new site is that we have a new cause.

Today, the California department based in Sacramento that has the state wide responsibility for regulating alcohol distribution, has become the latest “law enforcement” agency to “attack” popular culture venues. The ABC, Alcoholic Beverage Control, recently launched investigations and filed charges against eleven of San Francisco’s premier live music venues. This direct threat to the live music scene has become so voracious that we have had no other choice than to offer our experience and services to “live music” just as we did for “electronic music” ten years ago. There is an entire section of the site devoted to this struggle and you can find it by clicking here.

Its respect that prompts me to remember a few key peeps in the effort to save nightlife in San Francisco, don’t look for too much deep story line, it’s just that we couldn’t press the re-start button without giving kudos to those who helped make us what we are today. Let’s start by saying that we are a group of regular people who value the tremendous options available to us in San Francisco, especially when it comes to late night entertainment. That is how we started (there will be a future story about all that starting up stuff as it is really fascinating) and that is pretty much how we have remained until today. The “power of the people” who wanted lots of choices in their late night entertainment is what gave us the resolve, strength and money to carry the water for the culture of late night. Now the venues that host those events need our help.

It would be wrong to launch into tomorrow without giving a shout to the a bunch of peeps (remember there will be a lot more on this part in the later mini-series about how we did the start up thing) whose role can’t be understated in telling the SFLNC story. Sunshine and Moonbeam (who couldn’t get a permit for their parties out of the SFPD), Stephanie Tucker (who really loved the scene and is such a looker that it was hard to say “no” to her), Leslie Ayres (whose writings kept our supporters feeling like they were right there shoulder to shoulder with us pushing that rock up the hill), Kari Grey (love your ability to keep us organized and on point), David Cutler (young attorney who got us set up legally), Arkay Kahn (tireless keeper of the records), Mark Rowley (long time volunteer webmaster and founder of Wicked DJ collective), Red Bull (who as a startup company invested money and sponsored the famous Ascension fundraiser parties), John Wood (one of the few who was there in the early days and has been active every day since) and yours truly, Terrance Alan (the guy who spent his NYE in 1995 in the drunk tank for throwing an AIDS benefit without a police permit). There are many more in the cast of characters who you will get to know, but I couldn’t write another word without acknowledging these key peeps.

We are now parents, school teachers, attorneys, small business owners, web company moguls, producers of events, psychiatrists and always lovers of music. The work of the SFLNC has been our gift to this great city so that popular culture will always be front and center when you think San Francisco.

The new site contains all of the historic information that we have collected about our effort to “save San Francisco Nightlife” and more. If you have photos, stories, news articles, random remembrances from yesterday and today, please email webmaster@sflnc.com and we will make your contribution a permanent part of this story. Terrance Alan

1060/1070/Loitering - CALL TO ACTION!

IMMEDIATE CALL TO ACTION!

There has been much press in the past several weeks about nightlife, the ABC, violence and the Entertainment Commission’s legislation requests. This Monday, April 27^th, the City Operations Committee will meet at 10:30 in room 263 to recommend (we hope) that the full Board pass the amendments to the Place of Entertainment (1060) the Extended Hours Premises (1070) and the Nighttime Loitering Ordinance we have been working on since the Nightlife Safety Summit a year and a half ago.

You don’t need to attend, we already did that over a month ago, but in the next few days I am asking that you send an email to each of the Supervisors. I have listed the email addresses for you to copy and a simple email for you to use as a sample but don’t get stalled by not knowing what to write, the important thing is that they receive a lot of emails with “SUPORT” in the subject line.

Again, the most important thing is that your email has in the subject field the words “SUPPORT – 1060/1070/Loitering”. When they are received, the emails will be tallied and the totals of those in support and against will be given to the Supervisors. We want to make sure that the Supervisors remember that the industry wants these changes.

Respectfully,

Terrance Alan, Chairman