Greenville PD develops deployment plan following shooting fatalities

Biggest issue facing officers is loitering

By: Arthur Mondale | WNCT
Published: July 02, 2009

Tuesday’s violence in downtown Greenville re-opened some old wounds. Greenville's police chief responded on Wednesday saying businesses need to work with the department to do more to keep it from happening. He's also implementing a new downtown deployment plan.
Chief William Anderson says this is the wrong time for customers, bar owners and the police to start the blame game. He says everyone shares responsibility. The chief says anytime you have a lot of people going in and out of bars in a condensed area there's a high risk something can go wrong.
"We can't control what goes on inside the clubs,” Chief Anderson said. “A lot of the problems that we have start inside the clubs."
Chief Anderson says stepping up patrols will do little to stop problems inside that often spill outside creating bigger problems. He's calling on all bars and clubs to invest in their own security by hiring off-duty police officers.
But Anderson says the biggest issue facing officers is loitering, "That creates other problems. We end up dealing with fights. We end up dealing with people being assaulted."
Early Tuesday morning it meant dealing with a senseless shooting and two innocent people dead.
More patrols will hit the streets during the week to ensure the crowds keep moving and don't loiter. On any given weekend, Anderson says 30 officers are patrolling downtown, which doesn't include extra help from ECU campus police.