Police to crack down on parties Brimfield hotel site of gangs and violence

Email To A Friend
Printer Friendly
Comments

---

By Deborah Guziak

Record-Courier staff writer

BRIMFIELD -- The police department will be uninvited guests at two upcoming parties to be held in the banquet rooms of America's Best Value Inn & Suites.

The randomly held parties that were sponsored by different promoters have been drawing gangs and gang activities, said Police Chief David Blough. Other problems, including underage drinking, also are commonplace at these parties.

The hotel, which is located at S.R. 43 and Interstate 76, is in the process of being repossessed by a bank, Blough said. The former owner, Surrender Singh, has left the area. However, the bank is allowing the hotel to continue to operate until it is able to sell the hotel.

There are two more parties scheduled, Blough said. Both will be this month. None have been scheduled for after this month.

"There's going to be a lot of officers there," Blough said of the two upcoming parties.

Initially, the parties, which have been occurring for a few months, were sponsored by college fraternities and the attendance reflected college-aged individuals, Blough said. However, shots were fired inside the banquet room at the first party, and after that, Blough required the hotel and promoters to have off-duty Brimfield police officers work the parties as security.

"We began making arrests during the parties for assault, underage drinking and other offenses, including some outstanding warrants," Blough said. "I began to build a file, working towards nuisance abatement. (Singh) felt it was his right as a business owner to hold these parties. I felt that it was my duty as the police chief to put a stop to them. My reasoning was because of the amount of arrests and incidents that were occurring during these parties. We averaged eight arrests a night from this one location."

More recently, officers have observed gang members in attendance.

"During certain songs gang members will 'flash' signs," Blough said. "When rival gangs or territories both start displaying gang signs, officers would move onto the dance floor and locate between the groups in an attempt to keep them from fighting. During the last four parties we ended up in the middle of large fights. We have had several officers struck/hit and made arrests for assault. With our observations that the parties were getting more dangerous, we decided to get more assertive with the owner."

Blough told Singh that future parties would be flooded with officers to ensure they would be orderly. He also told Singh that he would be billed for police services.

Singh recently left town.

"He loaded up a U-haul and left the keys to the hotel for the bank," Blough said.