The easy winner of the quote of the week award is McComb Police Chief Juan Cloy, who made things simple when discussing the difficult issue of gunfire at nightclubs and parties.
At last Tuesday’s city board meeting, a selectwoman discussed her concern about parties that turn violent. The weekend before, police closed a nightclub after a shooting there, and Pike County supervisors discussed setting up mandatory security measures for clubs with a track record of violent crime.
Cloy’s observation about the issue was during the city board meeting.
“Our problem is way bigger than security guards,” he said. “It’s gathering in places and being able to have a decent time without fighting and shooting, that’s the problem.”
That pretty much covers it. Why is it that a growing number of people seem unable to get together without starting a fight or firing a gun?
It’s not just McComb, or Pike County. This is a problem all over the country. All too often there are stories about gunfire at clubs or parties where people are killed and others are wounded.
Really, the only solution to this is self-restraint, but that is in shorter supply today.
Local governments can make life tougher for nightclubs and people who host parties, but those restrictions will have limits, and those who are determined to seek out a good time will figure out ways to work around them.
Pike County supervisors discussed some of their ideas this past Monday, though Supervisor Justin Lofton said McComb and the county need to be in lockstep with each other on their efforts.
The supervisors' Pike County Safety Act would require trained security officers at nightclubs, limited access to the property, searches and metal-detector screenings of visitors, and even ID scanners.
Most likely, these precautions would improve safety at nightclubs. The problem is that the defensive measures sound more like Russia or China than the open society we have in the United States.
A second problem is that some visitors, it’s hard to say how many, would get tired of the intrusions and go find a private party. That’s no help to the business owners who have invested in nightclubs and entertainment. Too many restrictions will run off customers.
As currently envisioned, all this only would apply to places with a track record of trouble — Lofton described it as “multiple violations and violent crimes and things of that nature.”
At the McComb city board meeting, Selectwoman Terri Waterman-Baylor said she is concerned about the trend of large parties organizing in town. Along with that, she said police constantly go to the same locations to put a lid on disturbances, and the city needs to do more to prevent the misbehavior.
Cloy sees the dilemma as deciding what should be done. He mentioned requiring security officers at nightclubs, and presumably parties. He also asked if the city should require party organizers to put up cash in advance that they would forfeit if trouble occurs.
Of all these suggestions, the ones that sound most logical are a heavier presence of trained security officers and metal-detector screenings.
Another idea, which no one will like, would be to set limits on attendance in a nightclub or at a party. Don’t base it on the size of the facility; set it by the number of people you think can behave themselves. Admittedly, that will sometimes be a low number.
In a related news item, McComb is rolling out its gunfire detection system, and it delivered its first results last week.
Shot Spotter sensors, which triangulate gunfire patterns to determine the exact location of a shooting, heard seven rounds fired in East McComb late Wednesday afternoon.
Cloy said police officers responded and arrested one person on a misdemeanor charge of discharging a firearm in the city limits. The suspect apparently just fired a gun, which police recovered, but wasn’t trying to hit anyone.
Any gunfire is cause for concern. But no one was hurt. These days, that’s a win.
