BATON ROUGE - The City-Parish is looking to crack down on crime at hotels and motels with an amendment to the current ordinance.

“The old ordinance was basically unenforceable, so what we’ve tried to do is put teeth in this new ordinance," said Glenn Curtis, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Baton Rouge.

It's a proposed solution to the violence that is concentrated within a cluster of hotels and motels mainly along Airline Highway.

“Mostly it’s been a safety issue, a security issue getting calls to come out for law enforcement to respond to try to remedy the situation," Curtis said.

One element of the proposed amendment is a requirement for hotels and motels to renew their permit for operation annually, with higher fees depending on the amount of rooms it has.

Another element is an established ratio of .5, with the number of police reports filed at the establishment, also dependent on the number of rooms. 

“So if it’s 100 rooms, you get 50 calls, which you would be surprised, you hit that number pretty quick, then we can take action with the owners on their permit and try to get them back into compliance.”

Calls from the hotel or motel itself resulting in a written police report will not count against the facility. If a judge decides to revoke the permit of a non-compliant hotel or motel, it would be shut down within 72 hours.

Shuttered hotels and motels must then stay closed for a minimum of 30 days, and must pass an inspection by the city before their permit is reinstated.

The vote for this amendment will take place at the Metro Council meeting on Jan. 18.