Date: 19th February 2008
Source: Brisbane Times - Australia
Bouncers copping brunt of pub crowds
Drinkers are becoming increasingly violent and security guards who work at pubs and nightclubs are bearing the brunt of it, the directors of two Brisbane security firms have claimed.
Prism Security director Mark Holzworth said he did not supply to pubs or hotels as many security guards were reluctant to "get abused for six hours".
"Security guards have had a bad rap lately, but the ones I know are totally professional.
"There might be one or two I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole," he said.
Mr Holzworth said his firm provided 24-hour security to an office block in Fortitude Valley with retail space on the ground level and an open passageway.
"They're dealing with nightclub patrons who've been thrown out and (come to the passageway) and it's getting harder and harder," he said.
"One of my staff has just quit the security industry for good."
Another security firm director, who spoke to brisbanetimes.com.au on condition of anonymity, said he supplied guards to three local hotels.
He said pub crowds in Brisbane had "absolutely" worsened in recent years.
"People are getting more intolerant and just want to attack security guards," he said.
"It's because young fellas are drinking pre-mixed drinks, vodka drinks, those Jaegerbombs (an alcoholic drink made from Jaegermeister and Red Bull)," he said.
"They can't taste the alcohol and drink and drink and drink.
"It's also because of the young metrosexual guys, they are looking after themselves and going to the gym a lot and pumping weights, and they're very strong.
"I'm not a prude, I grew up in Logan and I'm certainly not against people drinking, but it's getting out of control."
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Date: 19th February 2008
Source: ThinkSpain.com
Bouncers shot for enforcing dress code
Two bouncers - aged 56 and 35 - were shot outside the 'La antigua estación' disco in the Torreón district of Ciudad Real at 2.30am yesterday morning by a 26 year old man they refused to allow in because he was wearing trainers.
The most seriously injured of the two victims, who was shot in the abdomen, is recovering from surgery at Ciudad Real Hospital. The other was hit in the shoulder by a pellet that passed through the front door.
Eye-witnesses report that, following a heated argument, the perpetrator returned to his car to retrieve a hunting rifle which he used to fire at least three shots.
The man, whose initials are JAGL, was arrested soon afterwards at his home in Pozuelo de Calatrava, which is around 11km away, and taken back to the Guardia Civil barracks in Ciudad Real since when it has been confirmed that he has a valid licence for the shotgun, and does not have any previous convictions.
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Date: 18th February 2008
Source: The Courier Mail - Australia
Bouncers are put on notice
NIGHTCLUB bouncers and other security guards will face even tougher scrutiny under proposed new State Government laws aimed at cleaning up the industry.
Queensland already has some of the toughest regulations in the nation, but guards will soon be subject to even more probity checks.
There will also be a new Code of Practice for bouncers, who will be forced to take regular courses in maintaining order and avoiding escalation of disputes.
Attorney General and Minister for Justice Kerry Shine said he would not stop until the industry was rid of rogue and violent operators.
"The Government is determined to implement laws that will protect Queenslanders and improve standards across the security industry," he said.
Security guards have been under the spotlight for the past two years following a series of fatal assaults at southeast Queensland pubs and clubs.
The Government introduced laws last year which enabled police intelligence and unrecorded court convictions to be used to refuse security licences and disqualify bouncers.
"The Government has already increased penalties fivefold for unlicensed security providers, and strengthened probity checks of all licensees to ensure that only suitable people are working in the industry," Mr Shine said.
The next phase of changes to the Security Providers Act addressed unlicensed operators.
Previously unregulated sectors of the industry – such as security equipment installers, electronic surveillance operators, dog-handlers, in-house security guards and security advisers – will now have to be licensed.
"Security personnel will also be required to keep their qualifications current through ongoing training, for example in techniques for maintaining order and avoiding escalation of disputes."
The new Code of Practice for bouncers will set standards for crowd controllers and security officers in licensed premises and ensure security firms are accountable and only employ licensed security providers.
Mr Shine said the Government sought industry feedback on two options for monitoring security providers' compliance with these standards.
"One option would involve industry associations being approved to conduct compliance checks, and the other would require security firms to join an approved security industry organisation."
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Date: 14th February 2008
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Red Cow nightclub doorman shot in Dublin
A doorman has been shot at a nightclub in west Dublin early this morning.
The 38-year-old was shot in the neck while working at the Red Cow in Clondalkin.
He was rushed to Tallaght Hospital, but his injuries are not life-threatening.
A car, believed to be used in the attack, was later recovered from the Dolphin House area of Kilmainham.
Around the same time, Gardai patrolling the area as part of Operation Anvil got into a violent struggle with a 23-year-old man who was later arrested.
One officer was injured in the incident.
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Date: 5th February 2008
Source: newpaper.asia1.com - Singapore
How do clubs select bouncers?
Four bouncers allegedly chased a drunk expat out of IndoChine's Forbidden City at Clarke Quay and kicked him while he groaned on the floor.
Police have since classified the case, which happened last Saturday, as voluntarily causing hurt.
The incident brings up a host of questions on regulations regarding bouncers.
How are bouncers hired?
Are they regulated? What are the guidelines for their behaviour?
Are they properly trained?
IndoChine said it hired the bouncers from an external agency.
However, its spokesman declined to reveal which agency it was, pending its own investigations.
Mr Peter D' Cruz, 39, a club consultant who has been in the industry for eight years, said: 'Less than 30 percent of clubs with security would use an external agency.
'The bigger boys with deeper pockets are the ones who hire professional bouncers.
'Look through the Classifieds. Many pubs and clubs place advertisements looking for security officers.
'They don't call them bouncers nowadays. That is the old term.'
For example, Zouk has 70 security staff and more than 100 security cameras in place, marketing manager Tracy Philips said. They hire their own staff.
On top of engaging an external agency, big boys like St James Power Station and Ministry of Sound (MoS) also have their own security departments to train service staff to double-up as security should the need arise.
Both St James and MoS have a team of at least 50 agency bouncers. On weekends, their numbers rise to 60.
St James Power Station chief operating officer Andrew Ing said its nine outlets collectively spend about $1 million a year on security.
Mr Calvin Sio, assistant vice-president of marketing for LifeBrandz, said The Cannery, which has MoS and clubs like Cafe Del Mar and Balcony Bar under its wings, spends the same amount.
Mr Sio revealed that MoS mixes professional security guards with its guest relations staff who can recognise certain guests.
Mr Sio added: 'We remind bouncers to be service-oriented but firm.'
With so many clubs hiring their own bouncers, how much screening and training is there going on?
DXO music club, at The Esplanade, says it screens its bouncers thoroughly.
POLICE BACKGROUND CHECK
Spokesman Lim Sin Yee said: 'Recruitment is conducted via personal interviews and an assessment of prior working experience,'
Ms Lim added: 'After the first round, all particulars are sent to the CID and the police for background screening.
Under the current regulation, the Security Industry Regulatory Department, which comes under the Singapore Police Force, requires clubs to send their bouncers for compulsory screening and training.
They also have to attend the five-day National Skills Recognition System (NSRS) course conducted for all security guards.
In short, all bouncers, whether hired from a security agency or by the clubs themselves, have to attend this course in order to work at a club or nightspot.
But courses like the NSRS are insufficient for bouncers, Mr Joe Singh, 43, managing director of Saints Security Consultancy, said.
His firm deploys security to St James Power Station, clubs at The Cannery including the MoS and Bar None.
Of skills such as patrolling taught at the NSRS, Mr Singh said: 'They may be suitable for building security. The club scene requires altogether a different set of skills.'
Mr Singh, once a security manager at Europa in 1996, said: 'We teach a syllabus to the bouncers which follow the US and British club standards.'
'They know fire safety and how to evacuate a place.'
Fresh bouncers attend a four- to five-day course at Saints, and work closely under the mentorship of a senior bouncer for about a month.
Bouncers are also taught to deal with rowdy customers in camera surveillance areas, he added.
'It's a precaution. We don't want any unfounded allegations to be used against us later on,' he explained.
Martial arts skills are not compulsory, since they are only useful for self-defence.
What's required is experience. They should be ex-police officers, ex-army regulars, or those who have at least received Civil Defence training during their National Service.
Said Mr Singh: 'We never want them to use force but will restrain a person if he has caused injury, or has molested a person, until the police arrive.'
And when the going gets hot, bouncers have to remain cool.
A club bouncer of eight years, MrJeganathan Suppiah, 32, said he has had all sorts of vulgarities thrown at him.
But when push comes to shove, he takes a deep breath and takes it all in.
The security consultant at St James, who is on the floor supervising other bouncers on most nights, said: 'It comes with the job. We don't want to offend anyone.'
Indeed, no one needs a thug for protection or a security staff who is a ticking time-bomb.
As lawyer Sunil Sudheesan from KhattarWong puts it, 'a bouncer may take steps to restrain the patron, not further aggravate the situation.'
Mr Singh agrees.
'You can't just wear a black shirt and call yourself a bouncer,' he said.
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Date: 5th February 2008
Source: Halifax News - Canada
Bouncers play an important role says criminologist
Nightclub bouncers set the tone for downtown after hours, and play an important role in policing the nighttime economy, a former Saint Mary's University criminology professor writes in his new book.
George Rigakos researched the book Nightclub: Bouncers, Risk and the Spectacle of Consumption mainly in Halifax bars. The book is subtitled: How The Urban Night Is Being Redefined By Club Culture, Violence And The Bouncers Who Police It.
"I don't think people are aware of the extremely important role that bouncers play," Rigakos said.
His research - the first criminological analysis of nightclub bouncers in Canada - sought to uncover the processes and politics that make nightclub security and surveillance succeed or fail.
It revealed bouncers confront routine violence - more than Halifax Regional Police officers - and oversee thousands of revellers on a nightly basis.
Regulation would help
Rigakos concluded regulating the business would decrease the problems caused when bar fights spill onto downtown Halifax streets.
"If a professional, regulated bouncer industry isn't present, you are more likely to get rogue operations and people that are behaving inappropriately," he said.
On Dec. 20, a bouncer at Cheers allegedly punched Michael Carpenter, landing the 46-year-old in hospital with serious head injuries.
Jarrett Charles Franklin Simmons, 19, is charged with aggravated assault in connection with that incident.
Private security officers in malls, on college campuses and at special events are legally required to undergo a training program. But the same doesn't apply to would-be bouncers, who work in an environment where violence is inevitable.
Nightclubs are sites of consumption, rivalry and violence, Rigakos found.
"Someone steps on someone's shoes and that's grounds for assault in a nightclub. In no other place, other than a prison setting, does that code of ethics exist. (For) criminologists, it's extremely troubling," Rigakos said.
Nightclubs also reinforce race, age, gender and class differences, which are always grounds for violence, he explained.
The obvious first step is minimum licensing and regulation of bouncers. Criminal background checks and basic training are not enough, Rigakos argued.
On weekend nights, Halifax police officers make their presence known downtown as drunken crowds spill onto the streets at closing time.
"Cities like Halifax, that have encouraged an active nightlife as an attraction for tourists, need to reexamine the associated costs to policing and criminal justice," Rigakos said.
His research also revealed some bouncers were involved in the drug trade and were offering protection for drug dealers in the club.
"Some nightclubs were squeaky clean; in others, it was quite clear that the bouncers were part of the drug trade, either offering protection or being dealers themselves," he said.
A Justice Department spokeswoman told The Daily News a private security bill that may extend training requirements to door staff is currently being drafted, and will likely come before the legislature in the spring.
Rigakos now works as an associate professor of law and criminology at Carleton University in Ottawa.
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Date: 5th February 2008
Source: canada.com
Bouncers training draws praise
Alex Slonim hasn't been shot, stabbed or dragged under a car while working the door at Melrose Cafe and Bar -- but his bouncer brethren at other night spots have.
And in the wake of a year that saw several violent incidents that left bouncers injured, Slonim backs the province's plan to put door staff through a training program that covers everything from safety to liability issues.
"It's great to establish a standard," said Slonim, who has worked the door for three years at the bar on 17th Avenue S.W. "That way, we're all on the same page."
The owners, staff and patrons of bars and nightclubs say they support the new mandatory program that demands management and security staff finish the free sessions by Jan. 1, 2009.
Mike Joseph, president of the Calgary Pub and Bar Association, said the program will help a sector that traditionally experiences a lot of staff turnover.
"You get a lot of people who could use some more training with how to handle people who have been drinking," said Joseph, who is also vice-president of Penny Lane Entertainment, which owns several bars and nightclubs.
The program's introduction follows several incidents that saw bouncers and other bar staff seriously hurt.
In June, the owner of Morgan's Pub in the 1300 block of 17th Avenue S.W. was shot in the neck when he escorted out a group of three people who had been fighting. He suffered minor injuries.
In March, a 21-year-old man stabbed four bar bouncers, leaving one with life-threatening injuries, and another staff member was hit by a car as the group tried to break up a fight outside Jimmy's, a northeast nightclub.
January 2007 saw a bar manager at Static Ultra Lounge on Memorial Drive S.E. hit by a car and pinned to a railing after a fight in the bar escalated to a 50-person brawl.
And in December 2006, a doorman at the Yardhouse Restaurant on 17th Avenue S.W. was shot in the arm and abdomen after a patron started arguing with him. His injuries weren't life-threatening.
The training for staff at Class A licensed establishments, which includes bars and nightclubs, starts this month.
The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission will run the program, which is similar to a program for servers that dealt with alcohol limits for patrons.
People who volunteer or work in security jobs outside Class A establishments will not be required to take the training.
Chris Curwen, general manager of Flames Central on Stephen Avenue, welcomed the program.
"I think it's long overdue. I've worked in the industry for over 20 years, and the one thing I've noticed from working in many different places across those 20 years is, depending on where you go, it's a different set of rules and how people are handled definitely changes."
Patrons said they back the program.
"It's good, because it can teach them how far they can go," said Dez Leroux as he sipped a beer at Melrose on Sunday.
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