No one wants to imagine that the tragic shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub could happen here. But on Friday, Fort Worth police took big steps to be prepared for the unthinkable.
The Rainbow Lounge is making security changes of its own ahead of a busy Friday night at the popular Fort Worth nightclub.
Anyone coming in will have to pass through a metal detector. Plus the staff plans to go through a training, to make sure everyone knows the quickest ways to an exit and the safest places to hide.
But it's the partnership with local police making the biggest change there.
Fort Worth Police SWAT team members checked behind every door, mapped out every exit and learned every inch of the Rainbow Lounge, drawing up schematics of the place on Friday afternoon.
“Just in preparation, God forbid that anything happened, we wanted to be a step ahead of any potential issue or threat,” said Fort Worth Police Sgt. Kathi Jones.
It’s just one sign of how seriously Fort Worth Police are taking security at local LGBT hot spots. They also have active patrols outside and on busy nights, starting this Friday, off-duty sheriff’s deputies will be watching from the inside.
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“It just makes you feel that little bit more safe that somebody’s doing something and learning how to prevent, in case something happens,” said Rainbow Lounge Bar Manager Jose Montanez.
It’s a huge change in the Rainbow Lounge, home of an infamous raid in 2009, where two customers were injured and several officers later disciplined.
“People just kind of felt like they couldn’t trust the police officers,” said Montanez.
Fort Worth police made changes, including adding a new LGBT liaison officer. Jones recently took over the post.
“As things change in the community, sometimes we fall a little far behind and it was an incident that kind of thrust us into what do we need to do to better work with the LGBT community,” said Sgt. Jones.
She’s now working alongside Fort Worth’s LGBT officers, like Kara Bellinger, who feels that extra drive to protect her community after the Orlando tragedy.
“I was devastated,” said Bellinger. “I was extremely heartbroken. I’m about to get emotional. It’s like getting punched in the gut. It hurts.”
Having those allies in the police department is perhaps the best defense a grieving community can have now.
“The officers on duty have stopped by, are you guys OK? Here’s my number, call me if you need anything, email me if you ever need anything. It’s been amazing to see the difference and the outreach from the police department,” said Montanez.
The Rainbow Lounge is having a benefit Friday night, where all their proceeds will go to victims of the Orlando shootings. They even had pizza donated from a local church in another sign of Fort Worth’s active community outreach.
