Their motto is "Where a kid can be a kid," but as it turns out, Chuck E. Cheese's is no stranger to law enforcement responding to crimes either. Some Tampa Bay area restaurants have emergency personnel responding to their addresses once a week on average.
We looked into 5 locations in the Bay Area, pulling the calls for service for all of last year.
Emergency personnel were called to the Clearwater and Wesley Chapel locations 18 times each. They were called to the address in Carrollwood 38 times. The St. Petersburg location had 56 calls for service and the Brandon location had 61.
"Chuck-E-Cheeses is a getaway for parents, not children." Tasha Hill said. She used to take her grandchildren to the Brandon location.
Hill says she's seen fights at the Brandon location first hand.
"Due to the fact of 'Your baby did this. My baby did that.'" She said.
"I come here probably about twice a month." Jmyia Holder said before she walked into the Brandon restaurant with her daughter. "I can feel free to let my daughter run and still watch her and the people here are nice. I've never had a problem."
According to the numbers obtained by ABC Action News, deputies were called to the Brandon location 13 times in 2016 for assaults, batteries, fights and disturbances. There were a total of 25 at the 5 addresses in Tampa Bay combined.
We decided to compare other businesses to Chuck E. Cheeses and pulled calls for service at several gentleman's clubs.
Charlottes Gentleman's Club on E. Nebraska Avenue had 0 calls for service in 2016. But Mons Venus, The Penthouse Club and Goodies had a total of 27 assaults, batteries, fights and disturbances between them. Still, none had more than the Brandon Chuck E. Cheese's.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which had the most calls at their two locations refused to speak with us about the restaurants.
Chuck E. Cheese's corporate office sent us this statement:
“We’re committed to the safety of our guests and take great measures to protect the experience children and families have in our restaurants. Incidents are actually very rare and only occur with a very small percentage of those who visit us. And unfortunately, as in kids’ soccer and baseball games across the country, typically such incidents involve adults – not the children. Safety is one of our company’s four core values, and many of the measures we have in place – such as our industry leading Kid Check system – are transparent to our guests to encourage an environment Where A Kid Can Be a Kid.”
