Police Maj. Bob Guidara painted a grim picture Thursday for the City Council of what goes on in Ybor City between midnight and 3 a.m., in what he calls the "witching hour":

As people spill into the street from nightclubs, some are drunk and high. They look for trouble in surrounding dirt parking lots. They rob. They fight.

There are 20 nightclubs in Ybor. But the epicenter of the mayhem is the 1900 block of E Seventh Avenue, home to Empire and Club Fuel.

Fifty officers saturate the area Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. But the increase in enforcement draws resources from nearby residential areas.

More needs to be done, Guidara said. The mayor and police chief are talking about upping the nightclub admission age to 21 and making clubs close at midnight instead of 3 a.m.

City Attorney David Smith said the legal department is researching how to incorporate the goals into law.

Violent crimes in Ybor decreased by 25 percent in 2006, and have continued to decrease by 7 percent this year.

But cops are sick, he said, of dealing with a major trouble spot.

On May 20, a fight that started inside Empire ended in a parking lot a block away, with one man fatally shot and another charged with murder.

Residents and business owners begged the City Council to shut down the clubs. The council asked police for a report.

Thursday, they got it. It includes accounts of Club Fuel security guards accused of robbing patrons at least four times and battering them at least six.

Empire owner Ken Grossman said he turns in confiscated fake IDs. His bouncers check for weapons at the door. And he took out half his sound system to comply with noise restrictions.

Club Fuel operators face five pending noise violations.

Grossman said he'll do whatever the city tells him to do to comply.

"I've been there for 12 years," Grossman said. "I'd like to be there for another 12 years."