Before you pack up and move to Canada, read this
High-tech targets bad bar customers
All patrons face personal history check at the door
Lori Culbert and Amy O'Brian
Vancouver Sun
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
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.
