Working the Doors

A CRACKDOWN on bouncers has seen nine people refused licences and clubs fined $15,000 since the introduction of stringent background checks last month.

From October 1 to November 9, 387 checks were carried out.

These included unrecorded criminal convictions and police intelligence which had not previously been consulted to grant licences, Attorney- General and Minister for Justice Kerry Shine said.

The Office of Fair Trading visited 919 clubs and pubs in the crackdown to check their security compliance, issuing 61 warnings or infringement notices totalling $14,850 in fines.

The new background checks, which came into force on October 1, apply only to bouncers renewing licences or people applying for the first time.

‘‘We are now checking all applications for unrecorded convictions and using criminal intelligence and other background information provided by the Queensland Police Service to make decisions about applicants’ suitability,’’ Shine said.

The assistant secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, Gary Bullock, praised the introduction of the new checks.

‘‘It better ensures we have qualified and trained professionals,’’ he said.

Octavian opens the door to South Africa training centre

The pioneering Octavian Group has announced the launch of a door supervisor training centre in South Africa - the first time a UK qualification in this field will be available overseas.

Octavian Security Training, a division of Octavian Security, has established the training centre in Pretoria to provide the National Certificate for Door Supervisors Qualification.

Jot Engelbrecht, Octavian's operations and training director, is himself from Cape Town in South Africa.

Jot commented: "This is a great achievement for Octavian's training division. This unique division presents South Africans, who wish to visit the UK to gain work experience in the security industry, the opportunity to attend the course in their own country and will speed up their Security Industry Authority license application process."

Octavian carries out 10-year working history checks of all candidates and requests a police clearance certificate prior to allowing registration on the course, to ensure candidates are eligible to work in the security industry.

Candidates who are successful at the South Africa training school will be employed by Octavian to assist in servicing contracts at offices across Europe, Dubai and Vancouver.

This training division will also be able to assist other security companies with recruiting Security Industry Authority-licensed door supervisors.

Octavian Security Training was established to deliver a specific level of training in accordance with the recommended training syllabus in the British Standard 7499 and recently this has been expanded to provide the National Certificate for Door Supervisors Qualification.

Jot Engelbrecht continued, "The security industry is constantly being criticised for its lack of professionalism and, as a company, Octavian aims to consistently perform to the contrary, positioning professionalism as the keystone of our operation."

Octavian's training division not only continues to ensure the professional development of its own officers, but also allows the company to share its own skills and practices with other commercial organisations and competitive security companies.

Man convicted over Fitzgerald murder

A Limerick man has been found guilty of the murder of a Limerick nightclub doorman five years ago.

Gary Campion, 24, of Pineview Gardens, Moyross has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Brian Fitzgerald in the early hours of 29 November 2002.

However, the jury has found 50-year-old Anthony Kelly from Kilrush in Co Clare and 23-year-old Desmond Dundon from Ballinacurra Weston in Co Limerick not guilty of the murder.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court took just under six hours to reach a verdict in the case against Mr Dundon.

Speaking outside the court, Anthony Kelly's solicitor, Eugene O'Kelly, said his client was relieved at the jury's verdict.

Mr Fitzgerald, a 34-year-old father-of-two, died from bullet wounds to the head and chest.

The chief prosecution witness, James Martin Cahill, is already serving a life sentence for Mr Fitzgerald's murder

Surveillance video shows attack by alleged Hells Angels members

A surveillance video obtained by CBC News shows a 2005 incident in the Vancouver downtown area where two alleged members of the Hells Angels jumped the line at a nightclub and punched a bouncer to the ground.

The video, released by the Vancouver Police Department, shows Ronaldo Lising punching a bouncer outside the Au Bar nightclub on Seymour Street, while Rob Alvarez was kicking him. The May 2005 attack came after the bouncer told the pair to wait their turn.

According to court documents, Lising and Alvarez were initially charged with assault causing bodily harm but the charges were reduced by the courts to the less serious charge of common assault.

A provincial court in Vancouver last week handed Lising a $600 fine and a two-year firearms ban. Alvarez received a conditional discharge, one-year probation and an order to do 50 hours of community service.

Eileen Mohan, the mother of Chris Mohan — one of two innocent men slain in last month's multiple killings in Surrey, said she's outraged by what she says are the light sentences Lising and Alvarez received.

"I think the public at large will be appalled to see the amount of sentences that were given that were so lenient," Mohan said. "In this case we should have put these people away for a longer time."

Mohan launched her own public campaign for judicial reform on CBC Radio on Tuesday, pushing for tougher laws for gang-related crime.

Mohan is also calling on authorities to set up a website that posts photos of known gang members so that the public can be alerted.

View video here

Shots fired in nightclub incident

A MAN accused of firing up to three shots outside a Chapel St nightclub early on Cup Day told bouncers who ejected him he was going to "blow this place down", a court has heard.

Hassan Abdallah, 24, of Meadow Heights, was refused bail on charges including conduct endangering life, firearm possession and affray at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court yesterday.

The court heard Mr Abdallah was evicted by Viper Room nightclub bouncers just after 5am on Tuesday along with his girlfriend, Mylissa Piva, a former Grand Prix grid girl and co-owner of South Yarra's Lotus Bar.

The court heard they were ejected by security after they became involved in a row with another group of patrons.

Sen-Det John Burgess told the court Mr Abdallah had threatened security staff while being thrown out of the Prahran club, saying, "I'm going to get my gun" and "I'm going to blow this place down".

He left in a taxi with Ms Piva. The court heard the pair then returned to the Lotus Bar, where they had been living temporarily in an upstairs function room.

Mr Abdallah is alleged to have changed clothes and collected a gun before driving back to the Viper Room in Ms Piva's car about 6am.

The court heard an "angry" Mr Abdallah threatened club security staff with a cocked 9mm Beretta before firing a shot down Chapel St towards Toorak Rd, and that further shots were fired as bouncers tried to wrestle the gun out of his hand.

Defence lawyer Alex Lewenberg told the court Mr Abdallah had been bumped or pushed while holding the gun, causing the first shot.

Mr Abdallah, who has a conviction for violent behaviour, was on bail on extortion and blackmail charges.

Magistrate Sarah Dawes denied bail, saying Mr Abdallahhe posed an unacceptable risk to the public, and remanded him to appear in court in February.

Two arrested over Bronx doorman killing

Two Bronx thugs have been arrested in the slaying of a city employee as he worked a second job to support his young family, police said yesterday.

Frank Conte, 26, was identified as the suspected triggerman in the death of Raymond Barnett, 38, in the wee hours of Oct. 28 at The Bronx Cocktails bar in Unionport.

Barnett, a married dad of two young daughters and the head of fleet management for the city's Department of Design and Construction, worked as a bouncer at the club to earn extra money.

Conte and David Romero showed up at 5:23 a.m. and became incensed when Barnett told them the bar was closed, cops said.

Conte allegedly fired several bullets through the window, and one struck Barnett. Cops said Romero, 26, ditched the gun.

"I'm very glad," Barnett's widow, Eydi, said last night. "Now I just want to make sure they don't get out of jail. I'm definitely relieved. Well, maybe not. I still feel empty, whether they were caught or not. I still don't have [Raymond] here."

She said her daughters, Elvira, 10, and Shahara, 8, are taking life without Daddy "day by day."

"It's something they still need to get used to," she said. "They have to learn to deal with it."

2 New Mexico police officers charged in brawl with bouncers at Arkansas bar

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) Two police officers from New Mexico are wanted in a bar fight in which one of them stomped a bouncer's head, Fort Smith police said Thursday.

Albuquerque officers Russell E. Carter, 24, and Kenneth Ronzone, 27, are accused in second-degree battery warrants issued Wednesday of fighting with two bouncers early Oct. 26, said Cpl. Mikeal Bates, a Fort Smith police spokesman.

At one point, bouncer Robert Dan Beshears was on the ground and Ronzone stomped his head, according to a police report. Ronzone hit the other bouncer, Jason Tufts, in the face when he tried to help Beshears, the report states.

Carter and Ronzone claimed the bouncers were the aggressors, according to the report.

The officers were placed on paid leave Wednesday and are cooperating with the investigation, said John Walsh, an Albuquerque police spokesman.

They were told to stay out of the bar for the duration of their stay.

Nightclub doormen ‘avoid using violence‘

A FEW drunk and unruly patrons often spoil the evening for all when they get out of hand and need to be removed from clubs by bouncers.

Nelson Mandela Bay doormen (bouncers) said they were often faced with the daunting task of controlling misbehaved, drunk revellers over weekends.

Last week The Herald carried a report on a Port Elizabeth nightclub where at least three people were reportedly punched in the face by bouncers, while others were dragged out pub by the hair, legs and in headlocks.

The manner in which customers were treated was documented on the social networking website Facebook.

Jamie Wong, who started the Facebook group, claimed two of his friends had been attacked by bouncers. Wong wrote that his one friend was thrown onto a table outside Tapas after being dragged outside in a half-nelson. His other friend, he wrote, was knocked down in the club by a bouncer and later thrown out.

CCTV footage provided by Amafela Security and Events, however, showed a slightly different version of the events as they unfolded outside.

In the footage it is clear that some patrons were actually only shoved and escorted from the club‘s entrance.

One of them was shoved into a table, set up a few metres outside the club door. There was no blood over the table as Wong had described.

Another incident, recorded two minutes prior to Wong's friends being thrown out, shows a man apparently being elbowed by a bouncer. However the camera footage is not clear.

Several doormen said the word bouncer was associated with someone “who uses violence to deal with unruly patrons”.

Xavier Lee Shew, head doorman at Club 52 and Gondwanas, has been in the industry for seven years. Using violence to calm down unruly patrons was not the answer, he said.

Lee Shew, a qualified martial arts instructor, said violence was not the issue. If someone was drunk, he said, it was best to escort them out of the club with minimal pain. In his case he would use an elbow lock.

Tapas doormen Daneel Steffans, Conrad Verwey and Steve Hawkins all said working as doormen provided them with “great experiences”. The three dislike being called bouncers.

“We‘re there to ensure people have a good time.”

Uniformed Tapas doormen can be identified manning their different posts wearing jeans and a Tapas T-shirt.

Steffans said: “We‘re just regular okes. We often make the place safe for our female customers who will get harassed by some drunk guy.

“To be labelled as a thug is not nice. We also get verbally abused by drunk patrons, but in this job you have to take it.”

Verwey said all doormen must be registered as security staff before working at the club.

“Also, you must have a declaration from the police stating that you don‘t have a criminal record.”

Door staff crackdown blocks licences

Octavian opens the door to South Africa training centre

Man convicted over Fitzgerald murder

Surveillance video shows attack by alleged Hells Angels members

Shots fired in nightclub incident

Two arrested over Bronx doorman killing

2 New Mexico police officers charged in brawl with bouncers at Arkansas bar

Nightclub doormen ‘avoid using violence‘