Citing a rash of criminal activity at Linden Bar and Liquors, Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld on Friday ordered the Reservoir Hill store closed for a year.
Employing a rarely used law, officers on Monday will force the Linden’s owners to padlock the West North Avenue store for a year, said Sterling Clifford, a police department spokesman.
“The owners of Linden Liquors have been allowing drug activity in and around their stores for too long,” Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said in a statement. “It is time for them to close and allow the neighborhood to move forward.”
Bealefeld also has moved to close Jimmy’s Carryout in Reservoir Hill, calling it, like Linden Liquors, a “problem establishment.”
During the past 18 months, police have logged more than 17 incidents of violence or drug activity at the stores. After a “thorough analysis” Bealefeld determined that Linden Liquors fit the definition of a public nuisance and should be closed, Clifford said.
Baltimore City public nuisance laws allow the Police Department to close establishments that present a consistent threat to the safety and security of a neighborhood.
“Linden Liquors is a catalyst for violence,” Bealefeld said in a statement. “We can keep sending police cars there every night, but to really make the neighborhood safer, we need to close these places down.”
A hearing for Jimmy’s Carryout is scheduled for Sept. 9.
