New legislation calls for late-night eateries to have armed guards

From now on, the late-night eateries in the city ought to hire armed security personnel after nine o’clock in the night, says the recently approved legislation by The Newark City Council.

A recent incident in which a South Ward resident, William Johnson, who also happened to be police officer, was shot dead when waiting to buy pizza in a late-night eatery a month ago.

Late-night eateries serving little purpose
The South Ward Councilman, who is the force behind the creation of this legislation, has said that such eateries do really serve a little or no community purpose and contrarily encourage late-night criminal activities.

He also stated that while these outlets have got sufficient security for themselves during night time in reference to the use of bulletproof glasses and cameras, they do not actually have any sufficient provision for the safety of customers.

Bigger outlets will not be affected
While on the one hand, this legislation would call for providing security to customers in places where there less than twenty people are served at one time, it would have little practical implication for the larger outlets on the other.

If the former type eateries fail to provide the requisite security, they would have to close their operations during late-night hours.

Many of those who own these businesses have protested against the Councilman’s move and the consequent creation of the legislation saying that it would force them out of business and also affect their margins significantly.