Vancouver Bars Network Together to Track Patrons

Posted by michael on Tuesday October 7, 2003 @09:25AM from the going-to-put-a-crimp-on-dollar-draft-night dept.

Tortured Potato writes "The Vancouver Sun reports that bar owners in the area will soon start tracking patrons by photo and driver's license. 'John Teti, chairman of the coalition, said the vote is merely a formality. "We have full backing from our members," Teti said Monday....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.' I'm glad to see that Big Brother is alive and well on the left coast." This is the next step past merely swiping licenses.

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Some background on the Vancouver nightclub scene by rrt0 · 2003-10-07 12:31 · Score: 0, Redundant

There was a high profile shooting recently at one of the better spots and this seems to be a bit of a knee jerk reaction.

There have been several long-standing highly publicized conflicts within the organized crime world. This may be a way for authorities to keep tabs on them a little better.

Vancouver recently started allowing clubs to stay open until 4am. Not everyone was happy about this and some of the powers that be seem to be looking for a reason to go back to a 2am closing. The nightclubs are on tin ice and they know it. They have to at least look like they are making an effort.