License Commission satisfied with Squire Club security measures

  All’s quiet on the Squire front.

  At Wednesday’s License Commission meeting, the commission officially dismissed a public hearing into a brawl that took place at the Squire Road strip club in February.

  The owners of the club appeared before the commission twice following the incident. At its May meeting, commissioners gave the owners 60 days to see how security upgrades at the club were going before handing out a potential penalty for the incident.

  “How are things going over at the Squire?” Commission Chair Robert Selevitch asked owner Peter DePesa at Wednesday’s meeting.

  “Excellent,” DePesa said. “All quiet right now, very good.”

  Selevitch noted that there had been no complaints or issues stemming from incidents at the Squire in the last two months.

  Commission member Daniel Occena said he has gone by the club several times to check on the situation and said it seemed like things were under control.

  DePesa said an ID scanner the club has been using has been a big help in keeping out people who have previously been asked to leave the Squire, including the participants in the February incident.

  “We notified the people that they can’t come in again, and now they realize that if they keep coming back, they can’t get in,” said DePesa.

  Other safety measures taken at the club include flood lights in the parking lot, additional police detail officers on Thursday and Sunday nights, and locking the doors earlier at 1:00 a.m. to not let in additional patrons.

  Revere police officer Daniel Marks was the detail officer on duty at the Squire on Feb. 28, and he described the fight to the License Commission at its May meeting.

  Around 1:30 a.m., he said some of the club’s employees and bouncers got his attention that there was a fight going on in the back corner near the VIP area.

  “There were a lot of people back there, and when I got there, there were a few people fighting and it escalated from there,” said Marks.

  Police Lt. Thomas Malone expressed his concerns that the 2 a.m. closing at the Squire draws in people from other cities and towns for last call.

DePesa characterized the patrons who were involved in the February brawl as gang members with no respect for the police, staff, or other patrons.