Date: 2nd October 2008
Source: Watoday - Australia
One in three working bouncers fail police drug test
One in three bouncers tested in a recent police nightspot crackdown tested positive to drugs.
A shocking 13 out of 41 bouncers tested in August and September at venues across Perth, Broome, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie were found to have drugs in their systems.
Police say they will now review the bouncers' licences with the goal of revoking them.
Police targeted pubs and bars to see if managers and staff were complying with the Liquor Control Act.
Police commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said these types of operations aimed to reduce alcohol-related criminal and anti-social behaviour.
"We are constantly being told by our critics that the solution to alcohol-fuelled crime in and around licensed premises is to pour more and more police officers at the problem," Mr O'Callaghan said
A total of 73 infringements were issued to pub and bar staff who had breached the Liquor Control Act, totalling $62,400 worth of fines.
Among the offences picked up in the operation were allowing drunkenness at the venues, serving drunk people, allowing drinking outside premises and permitting lewd or indecent behaviour.
But Mr O'Callaghan said the results showed the irresponsible service of alcohol was still a major issue.
"Approximately 80 per cent of all tasks attended by police are alcohol related," he said.
"And police, the liquor industry and the community as a whole need to do everything we can to reduce that figure."
A further 22 fines were issued to people who had been caught drinking in the street around the targeted premises.
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Date: 2nd October 2008
Source: The Morning Bulletin - Australia
Bouncer blows whistle on club brawl
Nightclub bouncer Troy Humphries says so many men and women were involved in fighting outside The Coast on Sunday morning it was impossible to count them.
It was the worst night of violence he's seen in eight years as a crowd controller in Yeppoon, he said yesterday as new information came to light.
He praised police for their efforts but said he was surprised that so far only one man had been charged.
Scuffling erupted on the nightclub dance floor and about 20 people got involved. One girl was hit in the face with a bottle by another girl on the smoking balcony and had to be taken to hospital he said.
"We stopped the music and turned on the lights to calm it down," said Troy who was one of three bouncers on duty at the popular club.
"But when it moved outside it was just mayhem. There were people running through the car park in the pitch black with sticks and bottles just hitting out. Someone got knocked unconscious right next to me and it was so dark I didn't even see it."
Troy said the trouble appeared to be between two groups of local people.
"What surprised me was how many people, men and women, were prepared to get involved. When I first started in this job it was pretty easy to break up fights because they were usually one on one.
"Now when something kicks off everybody wades in and there's not much we can do."
He said the security footage of the fighting in the club, which had been handed to police, showed the intensity of the battle.
"It was amazing. You can see one man being attacked by five others and a bouncer leaping across to try to stop it. It was full-on."
He wanted people from both groups to know they were not welcome back.
"We had 200 people in there having a good time and the night was just ruined," he said.
Troy said although he was an eyewitness to everything, neither he, the club manager or the other bouncers had so far been interviewed by police.
Detective Sergeant Mick Ward, officer in charge at Yeppoon CIB, said investigations were continuing and there was a possibility of further arrests and charges.
"There's a lot of information we are going through. We are aware that someone was reportedly struck in the face with an implement. Inquiries are under way into that incident and we are calling for witnesses to come forward either directly to Yeppoon Police or through Crime Stoppers," he said.
Detective Sergeant Ward described the violence as an extraordinary event.
"It wasn't typical of a night out in Yeppoon and we don't want to see a repeat of that level of violence ever again.
"People need to take responsibility for their behaviour."
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Date: 13th August 2008
Source: Hamptons
Bouncer dies after choke out
Suffolk County Corrections Officer Andrew Reister, of Hampton Bays, died at 11:08 a.m. Saturday morning after being in critical condition and on life support resulting from an assault by a patron at the Southampton Publick House early Thursday morning. Reister, moonlighting as a bouncer, suffered severe brain damage from the altercation in which assailant Anthony Oddone held him in a choke hold until he fell unconscious. Police report Reister's family was by his side at the critical unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center this morning.
Sources say that Reister, 40, was working the night shift at the Publick House on Wednesday, Aug. 6, during "ladies night," when a party-goer became disruptive and combative. Reister had asked Anthony Oddone, 25, of 55 Clover Avenue, Farmingville, to come down off a table when an altercation broke out. Oddone allegedly assaulted Reister, wrestling him to the ground and put him in a head-lock before he was later apprehended fleeing the premises by taxi by Southampton Village Police officers.
Oddone is expected to be charged with murder in the second degree, commonly a sentence from 25 years to life in prison. According to CBS news reporter Jennifer McLogan, in Southampton Friday to report on the incident, Oddone was moved to New York City's Rikers Island Jail on Friday to ensure his protection. He is due back in court on Tuesday, Aug 12.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, Oddone was initially charged with Assault in the first degree, a felony, and arraigned Thursday, Aug. 7, at Southampton Village Justice Court. He is being held on $500,000 bail. Amended charges now that Reister has died are not likely to be advanced until the court appearance set for Tuesday. The Suffolk County Police Department Homicide Squad is investigating.
First Murder In 20 Years
Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley said the incident is "very unfortunate." The murder is the first to occur in Southampton Village since May of 1988. "You think about the volume of people we have come here, the number of incidents," Epley offered. "You'd like to see it be 1,000 years between [homicides]. It's never a good number."
"No explanation will ever be good enough," the mayor said in an interview Friday afternoon. "[Reister] comes from a good local family - hard working, he added. You hate to see a tragedy like this placed on any family."
According to Epley, the Publick House has always been good to the community. If the mayor were to rank the places in Southampton where an incident like this were to occur, the local restaurant would be the lowest on his list.
Southampton Village Police were called to the Publick House, at 40 Bowden Square in Southampton, at 1:12 a.m. Thursday. Upon arrival Reister was unconscious despite efforts by a number of patrons who had unsuccessfully attempted to stop Oddone. Additionally, some patrons had attempted CPR.
The incident reportedly began when the bouncer asked Oddone to stop dancing on a table. According to the police accounts, Oddone held Reister in a choke hold and continued choking him for a significant period of time even after Reister fell unconscious. Southampton Village Police arrested Oddone as he fled in a taxi.
Michael Sharkey, Chief of Staff for the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office, said that Reister was an "exemplary officer," having worked in the sheriff's office since April 1994. For the past several years, Reister worked with inmates in the Rehabilitation Unit, where he helped to prepare them to re-enter society after their time in jail. Sharkey said Reister had been recognized in the past by Suffolk County for his work there.
A manager at the Publick House indicated that the management of the restaurant has no comment on the incident at this time "out of respect for the family."
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Date: 17th July 2008
Source: The Record - Canada
New licensing requirements frustrate security staff
In little over a month, bar security staff will be $80 poorer, but not any better trained for their jobs.
That's a frustrating proposition for bouncers at local watering holes, who have until Aug. 23 to comply with an incoming licensing system.
Ontario says licensing the province's estimated 22,000 in-house security guards and bouncers will make patrons safer. It's a reaction to a 2004 coroner's inquest into the death of a Toronto man, which recommended all bar and store security staff get mandatory first aid, CPR and use of force training.
But while the new licences, similar to those for security guards, will require a criminal-background check, the province hasn't decided what training or testing will be required for bouncers.
They'll be required to pay the $80 fee annually, if they wish to keep their jobs, however.
"It feels like a cash grab at this point," said Adam Longstaff of Failte Irish Pub in Waterloo, who prefers to be called a doorman.
"If you have a driver's licence, you needed to pass a test. But there's no test for this."
Dan Moran, a bartender at Ethel's Lounge on King Street and a former bouncer, said licensing is needed to get the "goons" out of the business of bar security.
But stalling on training and testing isn't helping anyone, he said. "The training should have been in place before they started."
"If the training were in place, it would be very worthwhile. There's too many guys out there who don't know what they're doing."
Instead, the "piecemeal" approach to improving patron safety, the new system will only weed out anyone with a criminal record -- which Moran said is unfair if it means someone with an old shoplifting conviction from their teen years can lose their job.
Moran also wonders what the new regulations mean for festivals with beer tents, which he says will soon have to pay more for licensed security staff. He worries the cost will be passed onto customers.
Bernie Adlys, a manager at Barley Works and the Huether Hotel, said it's not clear who exactly is required to get the new licence. His business uses floor staff to man the doors when it gets busy, but they're not expected to be bouncers because his bar isn't rowdy, he said.
The new licensing system seems like just another unnecessary cost for bar workers, Adlys said. Wait staff, he said, already pay $30 for a provincial certification that allows them to serve alcoholic drinks, but does little in the way of actual training.
"It costs you money, but it doesn't make you a better server," he said.
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Date: 2nd July 2008
Source: Florida News
Bouncers At South Beach Club Trained In Martial Arts
View video here.
The owner of a club in South Beach in Florida has his security staff trained by jujitsu experts.
Roman Zago, the owner of Mynt Lounge, chose to have his staff trained in order to make his club safer.
"As an owner, I think it should be mandatory to have certified security," Zago said.
The idea is to turn big, bulky bouncers into trained security personnel.
"We're teaching them how to use leverage and technique rather than muscular strength," said jujitsu expert Pedro Valenti.
"We've completed 18 lessons. It lasted over a few months, so practice makes perfect," said Mynt bouncer Mark Henry Custin.
The last lesson takes place inside the nightclub, where the instructors pose as rowdy customers.
Valenti said he can train the bouncers to remain calm when they have a bottle broken over their heads or when they are punched in the face.
"That comes with confidence," Valenti said. "People usually attack because they're afraid, because they are insecure."
Even Mynt hostesses like Sara Remington were taught how to handle customers who get too fresh.
"The moves they teach us are good to release ourselves from the men that are grabbing us," Remington said.
The program is being endorsed by Miami Beach Mayor Matti Herrera Bower, who admitted that a recent incident at Mansion Nightclub brought the wrong kind of attention to South Beach. At that club, bouncers allegedly sent three college students on spring break to a hospital after a dispute over a bar tab, NBC6's Tom Llamas reported.
"We cannot allow that to happen here or anyplace else," Bower said. "People need to feel safe when they come out partying."
"You're here to dance, to jump, to sing, to have fun, to drink. You're not here to fight," Zago said.
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Date: 2nd July 2008
Source: Bunbury News - Australia
Security guard thanks bystander after stabbing
A BUNBURY security guard says he owes his life to a bystander after he was stabbed outside Exit Nightclub last week.
Gary Cherry was left with a slashed left wrist and severed nerves after an incident at the club in the early hours of Sunday June 22.
He went into surgery the day before his 40th birthday and will have to wear a cast for at least three weeks.
But the mental scars are going to take even longer to heal, says Mr Cherry.
Mr Cherry, who is the nightclub’s head doorman, said he had been unable to sleep and had been left traumatised by the attack.
And while his injuries mean he will have to have at least three weeks off work, he said he hadn’t decided if he will be able to return to the club.
“I’d like to believe I’ll be all right to go back,” he said.
“I became a bouncer purely to protect people and I get a big buzz from that and making people feel safe.
“I just keep telling myself it was better that I got stabbed than a punter – at least I was doing my job.
“But in my head I just keep thinking if I didn’t put my arm up it could have gone in anywhere – I could be dead.
Mr Cherry, who is a father of two, is worried about an increase in violence around local nightspots in the past two years with smaller crowds, more people affected by drugs and more aggression.
And he said he owed his life to another man who tried to overpower his attacker.
The man, who was talking to Mr Cherry at the time, was stabbed in the leg and later underwent surgery.
“He saved my life,” Mr Cherry said.
Police have charged a 26-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman over the incident.
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Date: 23rd June 2008
Source: BBC World News
India woman bouncer a big hit
It's Saturday night and a long queue has formed in front of Score, a hip nightclub in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh.
The hefty entry fee of 1,000 rupees ($25) per couple is no deterrent for the city's bold and beautiful.
Security is tight - guests pay at the counter, have their arms stamped and are then frisked.
Male guests are searched by male bouncers, women by Amandeep Kaur.
She is Chandigarh's first and only woman bouncer - a rarity anywhere in India, but more so in a male-dominated society like Punjab's.
'Like a son'
Punjab has one of the worst sex ratios in the country - here a woman's life is often valued far less than a man's.
"My father never made me feel like I was a girl. He always used to tell me - 'you are like a son to me'," says Ms Kaur.
She is only 22 and has been three weeks in her job. During the day, she presents news programmes on a local television channel.
Four nights a week, she dons black jeans and a black T-shirt and takes her place outside Score.
As Chandigarh's rich and beautiful women line up to enter, they have to pass through Ms Kaur's hands. So why did she choose this unusual job?
"Some time ago, I came here to attend a party with some friends. I saw lots of male bouncers, but there was no female bouncer.
"So I told the hotel staff I wanted to be a bouncer. They said that's not possible. It's a job only a man can do."
Ms Kaur set out to prove them wrong. When she first took up the job, her friends and neighbours were shocked. "Why?" everyone wanted to know. Her response: "Why not?"
Anupama Bharadwaj, managing director of Score, says: "We were looking for some time for a female bouncer. With Kaur around, our women customers feel safer."
And the guests have only nice things to say about the new woman on the door.
Feeling safe
"I had never heard of a lady bouncer but it's only fair that women get checked too since all the men are checked before they are allowed in. Also, it makes us feel safer if there is a woman bouncer. And she seems quite sweet," says Nupur, an architect.
Ms Kaur's work alternates between being at the door (to check those coming in) and inside (to ensure the women guests behave).
"My job is to keep an eye on the women guests - sometimes they get drunk and become a nuisance.
"I also have to make sure that they don't smoke outside of the designated area, especially in the ladies' toilet. And that they don't misbehave with anyone. If I see anyone doing anything wrong, I give them a warning. If they don't pay any heed, I throw them out."
Surjit Singh, who heads the team of bouncers at the nightclub, speaks highly of Ms Kaur's work.
"Earlier, some women would come in and cause trouble, they would harass men, and we couldn't do anything about them. We've also had women trying to sneak in with drugs, but we couldn't check them. All this has stopped since Kaur has come in."
Ms Kaur has had no special training to be a bouncer. But for the job she is in, being fit is essential.
"I work out in the gym for two hours every morning. I eat a protein-rich diet. I'm very strong, both physically and mentally."
And most guests seem to take her strength on board - not many, even when they are drunk, mess around with her.
But sometimes, things can - and do - get ugly.
"Last week, this girl was trying to force another in the toilet to smoke. I went in and asked her to stop. When she didn't, I took away her cigarette and put it out. She lit another one! I had to throw them out," she says.
Fears
The matter did not end there.
"Once outside, her boyfriend threatened me. He said you would have to pay for what you have done.
"I don't feel scared but sometimes a thought comes to the back of my mind. I'm safe in the club. But once I finish my duty and leave at 2am, I'm on my own. What happens if they come in a group?"
It's about 11pm and inside the club, the party is rocking. The bouncers, including Ms Kaur, are strung out across the floor, watching for trouble.
We step out because more guests are coming in and Ms Kaur has to frisk the women before they enter.
A group of young men are outside. Single men are allowed in only if they are regulars and pay a cover charge of 1,500 rupees ($37).
Checking over, Ms Kaur goes back in and does the rounds - the loos are checked and it all seems under control.
Doors shut at half past midnight. We can now go inside and stay inside.
But for Ms Kaur, as long as there are guests, she cannot relax. And as the evening passes, guests get high on alcohol and music.
One couple have to be escorted out by the bouncers - the man has had way too much to drink and is swaying from side to side.
Another young man comes crashing down the stairs and falls at my feet. One of the bouncers helps him up. Once on his feet, he lurches towards the dance floor. The bouncers let him be.
There are no more incidents.
Amandeep Kaur and the others in her team can now breathe easy - their long night is over. Until the next one.
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Date: 16th June 2008
Source: Canada News
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
George Rigakos used to like going to nightclubs. But that was before the Carleton University professor spent too many late nights in clubs from Halifax to Vancouver, researching his new book, Nightclub: Bouncers, Risk and the Spectacle of Consumption.
He was often depressed by what he observed. There was the inevitable violence, of course. "I've seen people get hurt, get bloodied badly, and it would happen routinely and predictably."
Even without fisticuffs, nightclubs are rife with violent vibes, including rampant "optic violence" such as leering, baleful stares and "cut eye" - disdainful, dismissive looks.
"Other than a prison, in what place other than a nightclub is stepping on someone's shoes or looking at them the wrong way grounds for assault?" Rigakos asks. Nightclubs also reinforce gender, class and race divisions, he says, by celebrating hegemonic masculinity and femininity, creating red-roped VIP pens for the privileged and imposing racially exclusionary dress codes and music choices.
Finally, there's the in-your-face surveillance - the CCTV cameras, pat-downs and ID checks, even metal detectors - and the deliberate way clubs deploy deafening music and lighting to reduce patrons to blank screens onto which others can project their desires.
It's all aimed at producing a "synoptic frenzy," Rigakos says, with club-goers devouring one another as objects of esthetic consumption.
Then there are nightclub patrons - booze-emboldened males on the prowl for a near-mythical one-night stand, flirtatious females eager to be desired but rarely interested in bedding a stranger.
Both are "players," Rigakos says, the women playing the men for attention and material gain, the men playing the women for sex. Both shamelessly use manipulation, seduction and deceit in pursuit of their goals.
In an epilogue to his book, Rigakos recounts a nightclub coat-check girl's conclusion that he's a player hater - or "playa hata," as he initially hears it in the din of the club.
Guilty as charged, he confesses. "I wrote that epilogue because I had already developed a negative feeling about nightclubs long before I started writing the book. There's almost no incentive for me to go back into a nightclub unless in support of other researchers or students."
Nightclubs and bouncers might seem unlikely subjects for scholarly research. And indeed, Rigakos's book is the first such academic study in Canada.
That's curious, he says, because nightclubs occupy a central place in the burgeoning nighttime economy. And bouncers, who determine who gets in and who gets turned away, are emerging as the "new gatekeepers of urban cool."
Cities everywhere have embraced the idea of the 24-hour city, built around a lively entertainment district, as a way of revitalizing moribund downtowns. It appears to be working. In Philadelphia, for example, the average annual income of inner-city dwellers is now $87,000, and 85 per cent have a college education.
Along with the 24-hour city has come a huge increase in private policing. In Canada, there are now three private security guards for every police officer, says Rigakos, an associate professor of law, criminology and political economy at Carleton.
The lines between private and public security are increasingly being blurred. At certain times of night, the number of uniformed police officers paid by nightclubs to provide security may exceed the number on regular patrol in the downtown core, Rigakos says.
Even officers who aren't on paid duty for nightclubs routinely find themselves cleaning up a nightclub's mess as drunken, quarrelsome patrons spill out into the streets. "In Ottawa on a Saturday night you have half a dozen officers at least in the downtown core, just waiting for something to happen outside of a nightclub," Rigakos says.
The police role raises questions about conflict of interest, he says. "Are they working for the public good, or are they working for the private interests of the nightclub owner?"
Bouncers play a central role because they control admission to the clubs and the sidewalks outside them, where patrons are required to wait in often-artificial queues.
To a large extent, bouncers determine who gets arrested, Rigakos says, because they turn belligerent patrons over to police waiting outside.
But there are distinct differences between bouncer and police culture, he found. Bouncers are more socially liberal, because they're usually young - many are moonlighting university students - and involved in the "transgressions of the night."
They're more insular and alienated than police officers, and far more likely to harbour "us-versus-them" attitudes. Some become misanthropes, with contempt for the patrons they are charged with overseeing. "I'm an adult babysitter," sneers one bouncer quoted in the book. "Make sure the babies don't fight."
Experienced bouncers, Rigakos says, "are the biggest player haters of them all. They are weary of the game of the nightclub."
Bouncers also see violence on a nightly basis in a way that police officers don't, he says. "We wound up finding that bouncers experience more workplace violence than police officers."
The time of greatest risk for bouncers is when they leave at the end of a shift, and might be attacked by disgruntled patrons they have ejected.
Bouncers also fear revenge attacks when they're off the job. "We were told a number of times about bouncers being attacked at the subway or being approached at the mall while they're strolling with their family," says Rigakos.
This violence-soaked environment can leave permanent psychological scars. "One bouncer was telling us how he would stand up against the wall and assume the bouncer position, even when he wasn't working," Rigakos recalls.
Bouncers feel misunderstood and under-appreciated, vilified as "meatheads" pumped up on steroids, he reports. A few fit that stereotype, he acknowledges. "In some cases, these guys, they're itching for a fight. In some cases, they're actually involved in the illicit drug trade."
But other bouncers, especially those employed by corporations concerned about liability, have had background screening and training in a range of areas.
Rigakos suggests bouncing may be one of the few jobs still available to young, blue-collar males who formerly found employment in the nation's disappearing factories. "It's really sexy to work in the nightclub industry. It's a macho job, just like a dock worker. You get close to celebrities and you're sort of in the action."
Bouncers are part of an emerging new "international proletarian security force" - Rigakos admits the characterization may be a bit romantic - that is playing an increasingly important economic role.
"What would happen if they all walked off the job some Saturday night?" he asks. "It would shut down the nighttime economy."
While there's little dispute that nightclubs create an invigorating urban buzz, Rigakos wonders why the 24-hour city has to be built around nightclub spaces.
"I'm not against entertainment zones," he says, "but why does it have to be an emerging global monoculture of this youth-oriented, alcohol-fuelled activity?
"There's a lot of different things you can do in a downtown area that don't necessarily have to rely on nightclubs. People would go to nighttime festivals, family-oriented events or 24-hour outdoor film festivals."
But judging from the reaction of two young assistants who helped with his research, Rigakos may be fighting a losing battle. "They sat around in nightclubs taking notes for 18 bucks an hour," he says. "They told me it was the best gig they ever had."
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Date: 14th June 2008
Source: SFgate - USA
Nightclub bouncer shot dead after work
A South of Market nightclub security guard who was hoping to become a police officer was shot to death on the street early Friday after leaving work, San Francisco authorities said.
Germane Harris, 33, of San Francisco had just finished his shift as a bouncer at the Holy Cow at 1535 Folsom St. when the attack happened.
He was walking with two women shortly after 2 a.m. when someone in a silver 2002 Volkswagen Jetta opened fire on him near 12th and Harrison streets, about a block from the club, said Inspector Karen Lynch of the homicide detail.
As many as three people were in the car, said the head of the homicide detail, Lt. Mike Stasko. Police did not give a description of them.
Harris banged on the door of another bar as the shots rang out, but either no one was there or no one would let him in, Stasko said.
Harris died at the scene at 2:13 a.m. The women he was walking with were not injured. No arrests have been made.
A friend said Harris had played semipro football in San Francisco, helped his family run a home for the disabled and had been on the waiting list to join the San Francisco Police Department.
Harris was told he would be accepted when he met the department's weight standard - he had 30 pounds more to lose.
"He was one of the best you'll ever meet," said the friend, Shaka Jinks, who went to college with Harris. When his daughter was born, he asked Harris to be the godfather.
"The guy had no enemies, not a one," Jinks said. "Every time you saw him, he had a smile on his face."
Harris was a single father and recently won custody of his 13-year-old daughter, said Jinks, who used to work at the Holy Cow and helped his friend get a job there. Jinks said Harris resolved disputes at the club in a nonconfrontational way.
"He was a good father. He was a role model to friends and family," Jinks said. "He was one of those guys, if you needed him, he was there for you. He would do anything."
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Date: 2nd June 2008
Source: Canada News
Stereotype bounced
Few women provide security at bars and clubs in Canada
The bouncer manning the door at The Lookout bar is as tough as nails and doesn't flinch in the face of a drunken patron mouthing off.
It's nothing the 5-foot-8, 145-lb. muscular club guardian hasn't dealt with before, and it's all taken in stride.
If belligerence morphs into aggression, it's less likely this bouncer will use fists or a stranglehold to bring the matter to an end. Heather Rutherford would much rather rely on her wits to get out of sticky situations.
"We have to talk to them, we have to negotiate instead of becoming violent. Obviously they are bigger and stronger so you have to be smarter about it," she says.
FACE VIOLENCE
It's a strategy that usually works, and Rutherford, 35, has the lack of scars to prove it.
"I have never been hurt, not seriously," she says, adding she has been in a few scuffles during her two years guarding the door at the York St. gay bar.
Rutherford is a rare commodity in a profession dripping with machismo. It's estimated less than 2% of bouncers in Canadian cities are female.
The gatekeepers of the nightclub scene encounter more violence than police officers, according to Dr. George Rigakos, associate professor of law, criminology and political economy at Carleton University.
The author of the new book Bouncers, Risk, and the Spectacle of Consumption discovered nightclubs are a Petri dish for violence by amplifying social divisions among groups that are normally downplayed in everyday society.
VIP lounges create separations, bribes to skip the line benefit those with money, while women use their looks and sexuality. Overseeing it all are the bouncers, who represent an iconic image of masculinity. Female bouncers are the exception, and in many clubs they are assigned to deal with female patrons.
As a criminologist, Rigakos was curious to learn why nightclubs are one of the few places -- other than prison -- where a dirty look or a shove could be construed as grounds for assault.
While the book focused mainly on Halifax, Rigakos also conducted observational research in Ottawa, Gatineau, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. He has been sworn to secrecy as to the identity of the clubs.
'POLICING AGENTS'
"Bouncers were essential policing agents in the night-time economy, without them the night-time economy would be virtually impossible to manage," he says.
Recent amendments to the Ontario Private Security and Investigative Services Act will make licensing and training mandatory for all security personnel, including bouncers.
Rigakos expects smaller clubs will try to flout the new rules by giving bouncers a different title.
"It's going to be very interesting to see whether the government will be able to implement this," he says.
In Rutherford's line of work, conflict comes with the territory. Despite appearing as cool as a cucumber, she admits she gets nervous when faced with conflict.
"Actually, you are pretty much always nervous when you know a situation is about to erupt," she says, adding that's likely the case for all bouncers, regardless of gender.
"You have to appear cool and calm, you don't want to appear nervous. People will take advantage of that right away."
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Date: 12th May 2008
Source: The City Messenger - Australia
Bouncers ask for more protection
Security guards are calling for handcuffs, pepper spray and batons to protect themselves in the wake of Sunday morning's Gouger St shootings.
Their calls come as police warn of possible "retribution" gang attacks and reports customers are being scared away from the popular restaurant strip.
Two rival groups in four-wheel-drives shot at each other on Sunday, May 4, about 1.30am, at the corner of Gouger and Field streets. Up to 12 people were involved, with reports of more than 15 shots fired.
Waltech Security owner Ian Walsh, whose company runs security for Gouger St's Buddha Bar, Mars Bar and Bar on Gouger, said bouncers were at risk of gun and knife attacks. "We've asked for handcuffs, for a baton to be on site, because weapons are becoming prominent on the street," Mr Walsh said.
He said having batons or handcuffs would help security restrain people until police arrived. "I'm expected to jump into brawls where there might be knives, machetes or steel poles.
"You've got no way of defending yourself. The weapons are getting worse before it might be they have a glass or a pool cue, now they're starting to pull machetes or guns."
Mr Walsh said security had been "waiting for the guns to show up" on Gouger St.
"It's a very popular food area so you have all walks of life: you get the street gangs, the bikies and the ethnic gangs," he said.
However, Mr Walsh said he had experienced little trouble with bikies during the eight years he had worked on Gouger St.
"The only trouble we've had with bikies is when other groups have started on them."
B&C Security owner Laury Bais, who supplies security for about a dozen venues in the CBD, said bouncers should be able to use handcuffs or pepper spray.
"(Pepper spray) although it's a little bit indiscriminate, it's designed for causing something to stop."
He said pepper spray would also be more likely to be used outside of venues.
"If they use it inside they're going to have an empty venue so it's something that would have to be carefully and specifically used."
Mr Bais didn't favour batons: "It's too tempting to use them."
However, new company Amazon Security owner Louise Millard opposed the use of any weapons, saying crowd controllers should be a visible deterrent.
"It's just making us look like cowboys trying to do police officers' work," Ms Millard said.
Officer in charge of Licensing Enforcement Branch Wayne Overmeyer said "the impediments are legislative" to bouncers carrying weapons.
"The police haven't refused it, the issue to do with handcuffs, batons and capsicum spray are issues to do with legislative requirements."
Meantime, owner of The Greek Mezze Ron Masullo said he had lost bookings since the shooting, which saw stray bullets hit another restaurant window and parked cars.
"A table of 15 just cancelled and another table of four," Mr Masullo said on Monday, May 5. "(Sunday) night Gouger St was absolutely dead because of the bullshit that's gone on.
"A whole street affected for two f ... heads that wanted to have gang wars."
Paul's on Gouger's Ming Wang said business had been steady.
"But these things happening are very bad. It's not good for this street and now people are scared," he said.
City jewellerAlbert Bensimon, whose office is in Compton St, off Gouger St, said trade would recover.
"It will get back to normal but it will take a while," he said.
"It's not a criminal precinct, it's just an aberration."
Real estate identity Noel Taplin, whose business is in Gouger St, said the shooting would not have a lasting impact on the "family oriented precinct".
Meantime, police say the precise motive for the attack is unknown but believe the offenders have links to outlaw motorcycle gangs.
"If these people come into contact again in the future, there's always the possibility of retribution," Superintendent Des Bray of the Gangs Taskforce said.
"It's only good luck that innocent people weren't killed or injured."
Two vehicles were later seized by police and three men were questioned and released without charge.
Ammunition was also found following police searches at two homes in Enfield.
Supt Bray said on Monday (May 5) there was "a number of suspects" and the investigation was "going along nicely".
Witnesses agreed it was amazing no bystanders were hurt in the incident.
"Everyone was just running anywhere," said one witness at the Talbot Hotel, who wanted to be known as Maria.
She said a "tall guy" came out of Escobar and chased another man. Then a white mini-van, which had been driving along the street, began reversing.
"He nearly ran 20-plus people over that were waiting to go in (to Escobar).
"The next minute I hear two people shooting at each other.
"I only heard two shots, everybody just ran in here."
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Date: 12th May 2008
Source: Limerick Leader - Ireland
Nightclub doormen row erupts
GARDAI in Newcastle West have launched an investigation after they were called in to defuse a heated situation where former security personnel picketed the foreign workers who continue to be employed at the club.
Allegations that the dismissed doormen were assaulted with "fists flying everywhere" have been vehemently denied.
Gardai spent hours outside the Newcastle West disco West, in Church Street, on two nights last weekend while dismissed staff picketed the premises.
No arrests were made, but conflicting versions of events allege and deny that assaults took place. Gardai have begun taking statements.
The people against whom complaints have been made are all understood to be East Europeans. The club denies employing unregistered security personnel.
Both sides in the argument claim to have photographic evidence in their support.
Former staff members Chris Ryan, Tony Edwards and Michael Bridgeman and others took part in the protest.
"I was standing holding a placard and was assaulted on each night. There were about 20 and most were not wearing uniforms. There were fists flying everywhere," Mr Bridgeman told the Leader.
The gardai confirmed that they had been called to the venue on each night, which is almost immediately across the road from the garda station.
They disco also operated on Sunday night, the eve of the Bank Holiday, and no picket was mounted and no incident occurred.
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Date: 28th April 2008
Source: Trinidad Express
Ex-bouncer sues for wrongful arrest
The State has been sued for $15,000, after two police officers allegedly wrongfully arrested a man two years ago.
Garville Mitchell is represented by Kevin Ratiram, who filed the complaint in the San Fernando Civil Court on behalf of his client last Monday.
It was stated that Mitchell was on duty as a bouncer at the entrance of a popular club in Gulf City Mall, Gulf View, La Romaine, when police constable Derrick Nathad tried to enter without paying the cover charge on the night of February 3, 2006.
Mitchell said the officer was told he could not gain access and he (officer) began hurling expletives and threatening him. He added that the officer made a call on his cellular phone and was joined by PC Fairley and a female companion, who both became verbally abusive. Mitchell said he was subsequently arrested, taken to the San Fernando Police Station and released at 1 a.m. the following day.
Two days later, he was charged by PC Nathad for using obscene language on the night of the incident. In December of the following year, the charge against Mitchell was dismissed in the San Fernando Third Magistrate's Court.
Mitchell is claiming damages for being wrongfully arrested, falsely imprisoned and for having false charges laid against him.
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Date: 9th April 2008
Source: Bar Keeper - Ireland
PSA ups enforcement activity
Recent enforcement activity in the area of door supervision by the Private Security Authority (PSA) has resulted in 10 additional applications for a door supervisor''s licence which have now been passed following the resolution of "inspection/investigation issues",according to statistics released by the PSA recently.
However another 86 door supervisory contractors have had their contracts terminated for being unlicensed as a result of the PSA''s Inspections carried out.
The PSA also revealed that 44 door supervisors were no longer found to be operating when inspectors went to the venues targeted.
24 door supervisors have been licenced as a result of the PSA''s enforcement action and 67 employees or venues have applied for a licence or use licensed employees now as a result of enforcement which also led to 103 venues now using a licensed contractor.
Inspections revealed two cases which were found to be engaged in ''not licensable'' activity and another 34 which fell under Section 52 (at the time). This means that some companies found to be unlicensed as a result of inspections conducted since the introduction of licensing to this area in April 2006, had nevertheless applied to the PSA for licensing before the critical date and so were entitled under this Section to continue operating until a decision has been made about their cases.
Some 54 door supervisor contracting companies were also found to have applied for a licence as a result of the enforcement activity.
The inspections also revealed that 130 venues had in-house security or no security staff at all and that nine used employees working within Section 52.
The PSA Inspectorate intends targeting specific areas and towns in the coming weeks.
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Date: 31st March 2008
Source: news.com.au
Man held after strip club bouncer shot
POLICE have arrested a 23-year-old man after a patron thrown out of a Melbourne strip club returned with a semi-automatic handgun and shot the bouncer who had ejected him.
Aaron Sindoni, of Pascoe Vale in Melbourne's north, was arrested at 4pm (AEDT) this afternoon in the outer northern suburb of Craigieburn.
He appeared in an out-of-sessions court hearing in Melbourne tonight, charged with attempted murder
The arrest follows an incident this morning when a reveller returned to a Melbourne strip club after being ejected and shot the security guard who threw him out.
The guard, 43-year-old father-of-three Sede Ferry, was shot outside Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in Brunswick in Melbourne's north at 1.50am (AEDT) today.
Mr Ferry, of Preston, was shot in the shoulder and is in the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious but stable condition.
It was "extraordinary'' no-one had been killed after the man fired shots from a semi-automatic handgun, Armed Crime Taskforce Detective Acting Inspector Everett Moutsidis said today.
The club's owner, Melbourne adult industry identity Maxine Fensom, said she had been at the club earlier in the night when a bucks party was in full swing.
She said the group were mostly well-behaved except for the ejected man, who she said was aged about 40.
``I would like to know who he is, shooting my staff and doing that to Sede and his family,'' she said.
``They seemed quite nice except for him, so he was asked to leave because we don't tolerate that.
``Everyone apparently ran off as soon as it happened.''
One of the revellers had earlier complained to Ms Fensom about Mr Ferry, calling him rude, but she had defended him.
Ms Fensom said the groom was aged about 30 but the group of 16, including the alleged shooter, were older and aged about 40.
``They did grab a table from the club and dragged it outside ... they seemed to think they could do that to other people's property,'' she said.
``We are in adult entertainment and run things professionally and want people to come here and feel safe and not feel threatened by the environment because of one bad egg.''
Acting Inspector Moutsidis said the proliferation of illegal firearms was a concern for the community but his taskforce was tackling the issue.
``We are also not suggesting this has any links to organised crime or other groups and have a view this is an isolated incident,'' he said.
Sindoni was remanded in custody to appear at the Melbourne Magistrate's Court on Monday.
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Date: 20th March 2008
Source: Court News - New Zealand
Man told to 'work shadow' bouncer he attacked
A 22-year-old man has agreed to spend several nights watching a bouncer go about his work, after admitting that he whacked one over the head with a bottle.
That was the outcome of a restorative justice conference and a sentencing session in the Christchurch District Court today.
Mitchell James Coll, who wants to become a registered architect and travel overseas, admitted the charge of assault with a weapon but was discharged without conviction by Judge Brian Callaghan.
However, he will have to pay $500 towards the cost of prosecution and $1000 to the security doorman as emotional harm reparations.
At the restorative justice meeting between attacker and victim, Coll agreed to do design work on business cards and letterheads for the doorman he struck.
“You fronted up to your responsibilities, and between the two of you, you came to a meeting of the minds. His suggestion was that you be with him one night a week for about five weeks to see how difficult the task of being a security doorman is,” said the judge.
He said Coll should liaise with the doorman to get these tasks done. “It really is a matter of you honouring your word. I have confidence you will do that, given what is in the restorative justice report,” he said.
Coll was with a group of people drinking in the city when they got into an altercation outside a bar over a woman in the group either slipping or being pushed. While the doorman was grappling with one of the men, Coll picked up a bottle and hit him over the head.
The blow caused a superficial cut which did not need hospital treatment. Coll then dropped the bottle, which had not broken, and another doorman came to the aid of the victim.
Coll was a first offender. Judge Callaghan granted the discharge without conviction after deciding that the consequences of the conviction would outweigh the seriousness of the offence.
Paul Norcross appeared as defence counsel.
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Date: 15th March 2008
Source: Canada.com
Unruly bar patrons stab bouncers
Two bouncers were attacked by a group of disorderly bar patrons outside Karina Club Lounge on Crescent St. downtown.
An argument broke out between two bouncers and three young men about 3 a.m. on Thursday, just after the club closed. One of the men brandished a knife, police said.
One of the bouncers was slashed in the leg and arms, while the other received a stab wound to his shoulder. Both are expected to survive their injuries, police said.
Bouncers from neighbouring bars came to help and succeeded in tackling one of the suspects to the ground before police arrived on the scene. The suspect was arrested.
Police are still looking for the two other men.
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Date: 7th March 2008
Source: Redandblack.com - USA
Job of a bar doorman 'never gets boring'
Without them, you can't get in, and if you're not careful, they will be the ones who kick you out.
Patrons call them several names, including "dude," "buddy," "man" and others that cannot be printed in good taste. But, for your own sake, don't call them bouncers.
You know them as door guys.
Door guys are the gate keepers of any downtown scene, and in this town, though the job may seem simple - check IDs, keep the bar clean, keep the peace - the importance of the position to the establishment cannot be understated.
"The hardest part is the responsibility you have. The people that come in - you take 10 seconds of their time, and they think you're a hassle," said Jeff Putnam, a senior from Duluth. Putnam is now a bartender at J.R.'s Baitshack, but he worked the door for 13 months. "They think bartenders are the entertainment, where without the door guys, the right people wouldn't get in, and we'd be serving underage people all the time."
Underage drinking is an integral part of any downtown bar, something many people know occurs, but few bar employees and owners talk about publicly.
One longtime doorman, known to his readers as the "Athens Door Guy," writes a blog called "Stories from an Athens, Ga. bouncer & bartender."
"It's a no brainer that if a bar only had patrons that were 21-plus in a college town like Athens, they wouldn't make nearly as much money as other bars," he said. "By my estimates, close to 50 percent of kids downtown on any given weekend night are underage."
"On the other hand, I know bars who have policies in place that are much more strict on IDs, without exception. These places are few and far between, but they do exist, and the doormen at those places do a really good job of keeping the underaged kids out."
'Part of the job'
Social skills are not a requirement of the job, but being a doorman does offer a rare opportunity to see every person who enters and leaves the bar. You may make some friends.
"Besides the fact that it's the best avenue to meet people your age, it never gets boring. Every night, you can expect something different to happen. It's not like a 9 to 5," said Andrew Szymanski, a senior from Topsfield, Mass. and a member of The Loft's floor staff.
In those same interactions, however, you may make some enemies - at the very least, people who don't want to send you a Christmas card.
"You'll see people trying everything to get into a bar. They'll try to talk to you and sneak their friends in and pass IDs behind them when they think you can't see," Putnam said.
After people enter the bar, chances are a few of them might have had more to drink than they should. Then the real fun begins.
If he's been working long enough, every doorman will have a story to tell about a bar fight.
Keeping the peace in a bar is difficult because most establishments have a requirement that doormen must resolve disputes with the least amount of force necessary.
"When I used to work at The Loft, there was this one guy who got in a fight and actually hit a girl," J.B. Butts, a sophomore from Baltimore, Md. and a doorman at J.R.'s, said. "When we went to talk to him, he started swinging on us, and it took about five of us to take him down and get him down the steps."
"We're expected to handle any altercation in the most appropriate way," Szymanski said. "That's just a part of the job, a typical night."
For Stephen Reppert, bar fights take on a different meaning. Reppert, 24, is a member of the U.S. Marine Reserves and recently finished a tour of duty in Iraq. Reppert now works as a doorman at Walker's.
"After Iraq, bar fights don't seem that dangerous to me," Reppert said.
Police
The relationship between doormen and the law is a strained one. On one hand, the police are there to help with any kind of altercation.
"You've always got the option to call bike cops. All you have to do is say the word - police and most people will stop," said Alex Pritchett, a senior and a doorman at Walker's. "You don't have a lot of people that aren't afraid of the police because they're usually students. No matter how drunk they are, they usually realize getting arrested may be the end of them."
On the other hand, when it comes to raids and other police work, doormen and law enforcement may butt heads.
"You've got to keep your eye out for the police. They're doing stings all the time," Butts said.
The writer of the Athens Door Guy blog asked of the police in a recent post, "Perhaps instead of threatening to give us background checks and license us or breathalyze us to make sure we're not drinking ourselves to death at work while letting underaged girls offer sexual favors to get them inside, maybe you could see if we'd like to help them instead of being the target of your threats?"
On top of that, bar employees are required by Athens-Clarke County law to do training "as required by policies adopted by the Athens-Clarke County Chief of Police."
Respect
In Athens, where alcohol is part of the culture, the people who get the least respect from bar customers are the doormen, some in the profession say.
Since most bar employees are students and alumni who work until the wee hours of the morning and get disrespected by their peers, many students don't find the job very enticing.
"I've worked in bars in other towns, and in this town, if you get in anybody's way, you're ruining their night," Reppert said. "They forget that you're working, that it's your job."
The pay varies from bar to bar, but many doormen say they make a significant amount.
"On average, it's probably the most money you can make as a college kid on a college schedule," Reppert said.
Door guys are held responsible for the actions of the patrons.
"When a girl knocks over a drink and kicks it under a couch, that has to get cleaned later. Someone may come up and yell at you because they have a fake ID and you won't let them in. Students don't realize that this job is hard," Szymanski said.
The job changed after ACC passed laws prohibiting bar employees from drinking while on the job.
When asked how much respect doormen get from patrons, Putnam said, "None at all. They think they're entitled to get into a bar, even if they're 18."
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Date: 4th March 2008
Source: iol.co.za
Top cop tackles bouncer network
For many years, people associated with the infamous Elite Security Group have struck terror into the hearts of nightclub owners and clubbers. Often referred to as the "bouncer industry" or "Gauteng Mafia", they have been linked to drugs, protection rackets and violence - and yet they have carried on with impunity.
But now their reign of terror is coming to an end, as the hundreds of hours of dogged investigations by the crack police unit set up to deal with bouncers bear fruit.
So far this year, Director Piet Byleveld and his hand-picked team of detectives have arrested 50 people connected to the Elite Security Group and the Hell's Angels biker gang, which both have close links to the bouncer industry.
Late last year, over a period of a fortnight, the police arrested 14 former Elite members in connection with bouncer violence and drug trafficking. Some of the cases under investigation, which include murder, serious assault and intimidation, date to 2002.
During the raids they also seized large quantities of the deadly and highly addictive drug tik and a large quantity of ephedrine and other chemicals and equipment used in the illegal manufacturing of the drug, as well as a firearm, ammunition and schedule medicines. The value of all the drugs and equipment seized amounted to about R500 000.
The Special Investigations Unit has been tasked with investigating violent crimes committed by various bouncer groups and other members of Gauteng's bouncer fraternity.
Four years ago, Bradley Silberman, then 22, found out just how violent bouncers can be when he went to the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Rivonia to celebrate the end of exams. He ended up fighting for his life after he intervened when bouncers tried to evict a friend of his from the club. He was assaulted so severely that he had to undergo emergency brain surgery. Another of his friends, Bradley Seweitz, suffered a broken nose in the attack.
Tiger Tiger owner Ashley Ginder was subsequently arrested, and, two years later, sentenced to two years in jail or a fine of R25 000 for the November 14 2004 assault on Silberman.
Ginder's case is just one of several that have featured in Gauteng's courts over the past six years. In early 2003, members of the Elite group were accused of the gruesome murder of bouncer Patrick Caetano at the Kyalami Business Park after CCTV cameras filmed two men hacking and gouging him with a butcher's knife, in what was believed to be a revenge killing.
Elite bouncers were in trouble again in 2004 when 70 men rampaged through a Boksburg bar, smashing windows and tables and beating up at least three patrons. The attack was allegedly the result of a territorial dispute.
And in 2005, Lolly Jackson, the owner of Teazers strip club, laid a charge of intimidation against two senior members of Elite, Riaan Carelse - who was subsequently acquitted - and Elite founding member Jacques Hugo, after they allegedly threatened to kill him and rape his wife.
Then, last week, Byleveld and his team swooped again, this time arresting three alleged kingpins in the bouncer industry.
Brothers Jacques and Deon Willemse were wanted in connection with an armed robbery in Sophiatown. Byleveld has previously arrested another brother of the two men, Gillie Willemse, on drugs-related charges.
And only two days earlier they arrested Theuns Grobbelaar, a founder of the Elite group and an alleged organised-crime boss.
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