INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission voted to revoke the liquor license for downtown Indy bar Taps and Dolls Tuesday.
The vote follows a recommendation from the Marion County Alcoholic beverage board.
IMPD led the push to take away the licenses from both Taps and Dolls and nearby bar Tiki Bob's. The department said it has dealt with numerous problems and spent heavy resources to keep the area in and around the bars safe.
Tiki Bob's license got a one-year extension.
At a hearing on March 7, IMPD and community leaders testified about fights, shootings, sexual assaults and highly intoxicated customers creating large, unruly crowds on South Meridian Street on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
IMPD said they spent more than $1 million in 2019 and $600,000 in 2021 trying to keep the area around the two bars staffed with enough officers to keep people safe. That budget was lower in 2020 because of the pandemic.
"There's a significant perception out there that downtown is unsafe," said Sherry Seiwert, president of Downtown Indy Inc. "On the whole, it's relatively safe with the exception of the 200 block of South Meridian. We need to do everything that we can to correct that situation."
In response to the county's recommendation last week, Tiki Bob's owner Jason Stellema said he would implement additional training for bartenders on overserving and more training for security on de-escalation tactics.