Police step up St. Patty's Day patrols

BALTIMORE (WMAR) -  

Baltimore City Police are stepping up patrols this weekend in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last year’s St. Patrick’s Day violence in which a tourist was beaten and robbed downtown after a night of partying.

Starting Saturday night hundreds of plain clothes and uniformed officers will begin issuing citations for open container and public drinking violations. Tickets will be $150 for minors and $250 for adults. Police remind revelers that alcohol cannot be consumed on streets or in open areas like Canton Square or the Inner Harbor.

Bar and night club owners are not exempt from the crackdown.  The Baltimore Police Social Club Task Force which is made up of members of the Baltimore City Police Vice Unit, Baltimore Fire Department, and the Baltimore Health Department  & Liquor Board will be out Saturday night inspecting bars for overcrowding, safety violations and vice issues. At bar closing time, there will be random street closures in the downtown area to allow patrons to get to their vehicle and public transportation safely.

In addition, police will be strictly enforcing the city’s juvenile curfew. Children and teenagers under 17 years old can't be out in public after midnight, unless they are with their parents or guardians. Juveniles in violation of the curfew will be transported by police to the Central District in the 500 block of Baltimore Street and will only be released to parents/guardians. 

Baltimore made national headlines last year when a youtube video surfaced of a drunken tourist being beaten and robbed by a crowd in front of the Mitchell Courthouse in the early hours following St. Patrick’s Day.