He said a uniformed patrol was threatened by a man who the police say appeared to be carrying a firearm.

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Following entry into the bar by four plainclothes police and two uniformed patrol officers, all members of the Public Morals Squad, things did not go as planned.

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In 1997, Police Chief Charles Ramsey disbanded the unit so that he could assign more uniformed officers to patrol the streets instead, but the police periodically tried other gun crackdowns over the next decade with little effect.

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