Downtown bars using Facebook for neighbourhood watch

By Kamryn Cusumano

A group of downtown bars are using Facebook to help prevent crime and keep each other safe.

What began as a Facebook chat of five close-knit bars has become a platform for 47 industry members involved in a neighbhourhood watch group. Tom Lucier, owner of Phog Lounge, began the neighbourhood watch group after hearing about how small communities and sub-sections of Windsor were using Facebook to keep each other informed on what is going on in the area.

The main objective of the group is to keep staff and patrons safe. Bars and restaurants in the surrounding area have since joined the group which has become a major communication chain between establishments downtown.

“It was kind of like the golden rule,” said Lucier. “We don’t want bad things happening to our neighbours so when someone comes in here and they are clearly and definitely dangerous we want to let our friends know down the street. So how do we do that effectively? Send a message to 60 bartenders all at once.”

This group was appropriated from an already existing group chat with the five bars involved in “Flight Club,” a pub crawl involving Phog Lounge, Craft Heads, Villians Beastro, The Windsor Beer Exchange and Snack B-B-Q.

“That’s how it started,” said Lucier. “We call it ‘Flight Safety Crew’ because it was only going to be between those five venues. We realized that there are other venues downtown… [who] are still people we respect, [so] why would we not include them in an effort that keeps downtown safer?”

Since the advent of the group, other bars and restaurants downtown have joined the group and use it to keep each other in the loop about activity going on in the area.

“It’s been helpful,” said Dan Spada, co-owner of Loose Goose.  “It gives us a heads up about an issue before the issue starts. Everyone just working together to make it better for downtown.”

Often messages are sent with a description of the individual and sometimes a photo is included. Craft Heads sales manager and bartender Jesse Peyton uses the group to tip people off for dangers and to be aware of potential threats.

“If we had a negative interaction with a customer in our own establishment or somewhere else in the area then we just post it and give other bartenders and owners a heads-up,” said Peyton.

Having dealt with people going bar to bar trying to sell stolen items, Lucier says he believes customers should know that the staff are informed and are working to protect them by refusing entry to these individuals.

“We’ve had countless nights where we have had people misbehaving at other venues that come right to our front door,” said Lucier. “We are standing at the front door waiting for them and refusing them entry. They don’t know it’s a community here and don’t know there are seven other bars. [They are in a] state of confusion as to how all these venues are connected.”

Lucier credits the friendly business landscape for the success of the group chat. Everyone working together for the betterment of the community.

Other neighbourhoods in Windsor are implementing similar methods. Bronwen Wood, a resident in the Mitchell Park area, is a part of a Facebook neighbourhood watch group. She said they have worked together to get some thieves arrested and also help locate missing pets. Wood said she believes other neighbourhoods would stand to benefit from a group if there is a moderator who sets the standards of conduct and makes sure members stay on topic.

Bryan Datoc, owner of Craft Heads and a new member of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, said he is looking forward to building upon this current model of communication. Datoc said he is interested in seeing if there is a way to include all business owners downtown into one forum where they can connect with one another.