Bars target bad customers with high-tech network

[narc]

Bars target bad customers with high-tech network
Vancouver bar patrons will soon have to produce identification and have their photograph taken every time they enter clubs or bars connected to an electronic network designed to red-flag troublemakers.

Within the next six months, about 35 bars and clubs in Vancouver are expected to be hooked into the Barwatch system.

Barwatch, a coalition of Vancouver bar and nightclub owners, still has to vote today on whether to make an ID security system mandatory at all its member establishments, but John Teti, chairman of the coalition, said the vote is merely a formality.

"We have full backing from our members," Teti said Monday.

"It should take about six months to implement the full system."

Once the system is in place, patrons will be asked to stand in front of a camera to have their picture taken and will then swipe their drivers' licence, or possibly show some other form of identification, that will automatically give the establishment the patron's name and age and show if he or she has caused trouble at any other bar on the network.

The establishment will not be able to access the person's address or criminal record by swiping the licence.

Barwatch is considering several different security system manufacturers for the contract, but Teti said Vancouver-based TreoScope Technologies Inc. has a system with advantages over others.

One thing Teti likes about TreoScope's "Vigilance" system is that it can be accessed by all the establishments on the network, which means a patron who gets into a fight at one bar along Granville Street will be red-flagged by the time he tries to get into another bar down the street.

TreoScope co-owner Owen Cameron said the system can also be used, for example, to help a victim whose drink has been spiked. The customer could return to the bar several days after the incident and go through photographs of patrons, trying to identify who might have spiked the drink.

"We can start making Vancouver's nightlife a little safer," Cameron said.

"We can't guarantee it's going to eradicate violence, but at least it's a step in the right direction."

Vancouver police are supportive.

There have been more altercations between drunken clubbers since the city extended drinking hours to 4 a.m. and the department has spent nearly $120,000 for extra police officers to work the late-night patrol since the hours were extended July 4, Constable Sarah Bloor said.

Such a system would also mean officers could use a search warrant to retrieve a list of patrons should a crime happen inside a club, Bloor said.

When gunfire erupted at the Loft Six bar this summer, witnesses scattered and police found it very difficult to get information about the fatal shooting.

Bloor said police hope the Liquor Control and Licensing Board will endorse such a tool, so that all bars in the city would be required to use it.

But some patrons and the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association don't like the idea.

"I would just walk the other way and see how they like it. I wouldn't put up with that myself," said Darrell Evans, executive director of the association. "The infrastructure is stacking up and stacking up towards a police state."

At the Pump Jack Pub on Davie Street, where the Vigilance system was being demonstrated Monday, patrons seemed wary of the device.

"It feels like an unnecessary invasion of privacy," David Caro said. "It's going in the direction the United States is going in terms of freedoms being given up for security."




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[stringbeans]

sounds like a good idea! but i can see some troubles in having it... ive known people who have been kicked out of clubs and bars for being in fights they did not even start while the person who caused the fight is allowed to stay because hes a "regular" or friends with the owner

sounds like a cool system to work on though! i wonder if they're hiring.. hmmmmmm.. hehe

john

[Ragga_Wh0re]

I think this is a good idea they have this in Calgary and it works, but i agree with stringbeans club owners and staff will definately play favourites and as for patrons spiking other patrons drinks... i betcha u any money that some of the bar staff is supplying the drugs.

[Krusha]

WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! *barfs*

It's a trojan horse, it seems convenient but what they wont let you know unless you do some homework is that it will probobly be used in the field of marketing which equates to more junk mail/telemarketers and a higher risk of identity theft.

Keep trading privacy for security and we'll be in a globalist state faster then you can say bilderberg :finger: