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West Tampa brewery requests more police presence after shooting
The owner of Bay Cannon Beer Company brought some concerns to Tampa leaders, saying he doesn’t feel safe or comfortable allowing customers back to his business after a deadly shooting occurred across the street. A bullet ended up in the beer fridge, he said.
TAMPA, Fla. - A West Tampa business owner is pushing for more community policing after a deadly shooting happened just steps from his doors.
It's the reason Bay Cannon Beer Company owner Matthew Juaire chose to close his taproom after multiple bullets struck the building as well as a beer refrigerator inside.
Juaire took his concerns to the West Tampa Redevelopment Area's Community Advisory Committee meeting Tuesday night.
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Most of the board shared his same concerns and frustration. They feel something new has to be done by police to crack down on the crime along Main Street in West Tampa. Juaire said he doesn't feel comfortable or safe allowing the public back inside until he sees some real changes.
Bullet holes have put what’s important in perspective for Juaire.
"We've got a bullet in our beer fridge. That hits pretty close to home," Juaire said. "I just don't think it was a discussion after that. Most people were in agreement that we had to close."
Board members listened as Juaire aired his concerns at the meeting.
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"When you go to the website that's a picture of our front door on the West Tampa C.R.A. website. Okay. That's progress. That's a commercial district. An entertainment district. Whatever you want to call it. It ain't that, and it won't ever be if people are shooting on Main Street," Juaire said.
Juaire said after the shooting he met with Tampa Police Interim Chief Lee Bercaw. He said they crunched the numbers, and he believes it would cost the West Tampa CRA about $208,000 for one year to have two police officers stationed along Main Street in West Tampa during peak hours. The CRA receives about $20 million in funding each year.
"C.R.A.'s can do community policing projects, but those projects need to be above and beyond whatever PD is already doing. We can't just pay for overtime or replace any overtime. We can do new overtime for innovative community policing," West Tampa CRA Manager Jesus Niño said.
At the meeting, board members also expressed frustration over cameras they purchased three years ago not working. They said the cameras were placed throughout West Tampa to help police catch suspects, but they learned the camera that may have caught last Sunday's shooting wasn't working.
The board is now working on coming up with a plan to make sure when any camera stops working it's immediately repaired.
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"It's got incredible diversity. It's got fantastic architecture. It's walkable, and we hope to be able to show that to the rest of the area," Juaire said.
Tuesday night, the board passed a motion to develop a public safety committee to address crime and look at new innovative policing efforts to use.
They also asked TPD to come back to their next meeting in January with a detailed layout of what they're currently doing to prevent crime. Based on that, they'll come up with a plan together and supplement that plan with any additional policing efforts they feel are needed.
Juaire will be waiting to see the changes before he considers reopening his taproom. In the meantime, he'll still be running the manufacturing side of his business.