He saw a lot during his 28 years as a police officer in Los Angeles -- a city of 4 million where some school district lines are actually drawn to conform with existing gang territories.

But never has Portland Police Chief James Craig seen anything quite like the Old Port on a Saturday night.

"I don't think I can remember one time (in L.A.) where there was such a concentrated level of people under the influence," Craig said this week, reflecting back on his late-night walk through the Old Port last weekend. "I found it odd and somewhat shocking."

No, Craig wasn't reading from talking points left deep in his desk by former Police Chief Mike Chitwood. (If he were, he'd have used the word "heinous" at least three times by now.)

Rather, the new chief is putting a fresh set of eyes on a spectacle that goes back decades: If it's a summer weekend and it's near closing time and you're in the Old Port, you'd best be looking for the nearest fallout shelter.

Craig, who earlier in the evening had visited the scene of a double stabbing across the peninsula in Kennedy Park, said the officers with whom he rendezvoused in the Old Port around midnight on Saturday told him that it was actually a rather quiet night given the bad weather and all.

Uh-huh.

"But I did see several bar patrons who had to be carried away by their friends -- I must have counted at least a half-dozen," Craig said. "I saw some heavily intoxicated people -- down-and-out drunk, couldn't walk. And again, this was a slow night."

His conclusion? Someone needs to turn down the alcohol spigot. And fast.

"Obviously, we have to find a solution with the tavern owners about what to do here," Craig said. "Because obviously, they bear some responsibility. Do they not know some folks being served are already under the influence?"

It depends on whom you ask.

Doug Fuss, who owns Bull Feeney's bar and restaurant on Fore Street and serves as chairman of the Portland Downtown District's Night Life Oversight Committee, said he's seen a "dramatic" improvement in the Old Port since he opened eight years ago.

Fuss said the committee, also known as NLOC, meets monthly to oversee a host of concerns. High on the list, he said, is training bar personnel to recognize who's had a few too many and either deny them entrance to a bar or, if they're already inside, shut them off long before they go belly up.

That said, Fuss added, "I think overserving is an issue wherever you have bars anywhere in the country."

Fuss said all bars in the Old Port, upon receiving their city liquor license, automatically become members of NLOC. Still, there's a big difference between automatic membership and active participation.

According to Janis Beitzer, executive director of the Portland Downtown District, there are 21 bars that fall into the loose category of Old Port watering holes. Of those, she said, "between 10 and 12" regularly attend NLOC meetings.

In other words, while half of the Old Port bars are laudably plugged into NLOC, half aren't. And though Beitzer noted that she e-mails agendas and minutes of the meetings to all 21 bars, there's no guarantee that the no-shows actually take the time to read (or give a hoot) about the committee's activities.

Fuss also noted that the City Council has undergone a policy shift in recent years whereby liquor-license renewals are used as leverage against bar owners who fail to clean up their act. Put simply, Fuss said, "if a bar owner is not responsible, then he shouldn't get his license."

Fair enough. But according to Assistant City Clerk Alexandra Murphy, who administers the city's liquor licensing, only two bars have had their license renewals denied in the past two years.

One was the Ice House Tavern, on York Street well outside the Old Port. The other was The Cactus Club, which continues to operate on Wharf Street in the heart of the Old Port...