Calgary bars, clubs band together to keep watch on customers

Some Calgary bar owners are banding together and installing special surveillance cameras to improve safety at their establishments.

The Calgary Bar Watch Association for Patron Safety held a news conference Tuesday to announce plans to tighten security and improve communication with police.

Members of the group will be required to install closed-circuit TV cameras at front and back entrances, follow provincial legislation, post policies and restrictions, and commit to not tolerating any criminal activity at their sites.

About 20 bars, pubs and nightclubs — most of them in downtown Calgary — have already signed up. Joining the group is voluntary and will include monthly meetings where members share information with each other, as well as with police.

The program will begin this spring, said organizers at the news conference at Melrose Café & Bar on 17th Avenue S.W. The owners said Bar Watch is not in response to any specific incident but is a logical evolution as Calgary's population continues to climb beyond one million.

"The growth of the city, the increase in the number of bars [and increased tourism bring] home the point that we need to provide a safe environment for patrons," said Brian Lee from Concorde Entertainment Group, which owns clubs including the Whiskey, the Mercury and Flames Central.

Calgary police applauded the move, saying cameras can deter crime and the footage can be used as evidence.

"There's a draw from the criminal element to bars, to licensed premises," police Supt. Trevor Daroux said Tuesday. "Gangs and organized crime exists because they make money. They make money by selling drugs, by committing gang-related activity. A place to do that is in and around licensed premises."

Similar program in Vancouver

A similar program in Vancouver gives officers the authority to enter venues uninvited and remove known gang members from the premises. About 20 clubs in the Vancouver program also use metal detectors and ID scanners.

Bill 42, which is currently before the Alberta legislature, proposes to allow bars to collect names, ages and photos of patrons in a bid to identify troublemakers and prevent gang activity.

In 2008, Frank Work, Alberta's privacy commissioner, ordered Calgary nightclub Tantra to stop scanning patrons' driver's licences, disputing the proprietor's view that the practice curbed violent behaviour.

Last week, Work gave guarded support to Bill 42, saying: "Overall, however, I remain dubious about how collecting this kind of information will make bars and nightclubs safer, but at least now we will have guidelines regarding what kind of information can be collected."