Strict guidelines on licensing and regulation of hotel bouncers

9/12/94

Strict guidelines on the licensing and regulation of hotel and night club bouncers were aimed at safeguarding the community and restoring respectability to the industry, Police Minister Bob Wiese said today.

Mr Wiese said new State Government legislation introduced last night, adopted wide-ranging measures to ensure those people who became bouncers or crowd control agents were fully scrutinised.

"In recent years there has been widespread community concern that the crowd control industry has been infiltrated by people with a reputation for violence," Mr Wiese said.

"This has been highlighted by incidents over the last 12 months at night clubs and licensed premises where crowd controllers, through inappropriate aggressive behaviour, have been convicted for assaults on members of the public.

"This legislation provides for an ongoing screening process of those in the industry - from initial selection and training of a crowd control agent - through to random licence checks and drug testing for controllers operating in the community."

The Minister said the Securities and Related Activities Control legislation not only set new statutory guidelines for the crowd control industry, but overhauled existing regulatory standards for security officers involved in property protection and inquiry agents who may be engaged in surveillance work or locating missing persons.

Mr Wiese said while the security industry and the private investigation industry had been subject to licensing control for many years, there were still many areas where the current legislation was deficient.

"The wide-ranging legislation of this Bill will help restore community confidence in these people-management industries which rely on mutual respect and trust to get the job done," he said.

The Bill was a positive legislative commitment to addressing serious community issues over crowd control agents which had been left unanswered by the previous Government.

"When the Opposition was in power they bumbled along with the issue for over six and a half years and produced little more than a discussion paper," the Minister said.

"In less than 18 months this Government has revisited the concerns and created the legislation which highlights the Opposition's inept and appalling handling of this issue."

The Minister said the new legislation incorporated tough penalties which included an immediate loss of licence and fines ranging up to $10,000 for an individual committing an offence and up to $20,000 for corporate bodies.

In regulating the crowd control industry the legislation defines two groups to be licensed - crowd controllers are people operating at licensed premises or functions who screen or remove people for bad behaviour - and crowd control agents - those responsible for supplying the services of crowd controllers.

The new legislation will include provisions which:

*           Provide for the licensing and regulating of crowd control agents and crowd controllers.

*           Establish a clearly defined licensing process and ensure that only suitable people can become licensed.

*           Enable training courses to be established as a pre-requisite for any person seeking to be licensed as a crowd control agent or crowd controller.

The Minister said in addition there would be random drug testing of licensed crowd controllers to check for the use of amphetamines and anabolic steroids.

"Findings by the Health Department have identified a disturbing link between the excessive use of these substances and violent and unpredictable behaviour," Mr Wiese said.

"It is essential to deter any people who use such substances for non-therapeutic reasons from being crowd controllers, because of their close and sometimes physical contact with the public.

"To allow a crowd controller to perform such duties while using anabolic steroids or amphetamines may result in injury to the public and random testing will help prevent this from occurring."

The Minister said that in relation to the licensing of security and inquiry agents, the legislation set strict guidelines on character screening before licensing and renewal of licences, the introduction of training programs and when to carry firearms or batons.

"The responsibility on security officers who wear a baton will be enforced with extensive police-approved training and retraining to ensure high standards are maintained," Mr Wiese said.

"Security officers will also be restricted to carrying a firearm only where it involves the escort of money or valuables.

"However, a new provision will be introduced to allow an 'armed' security officer to be on duty where a special display of very valuable articles or jewellery is taking place, but special approval will have to be obtained from the Commissioner of Police.

"Community safety is a priority and officers who carry batons or firearms will be required to undergo regular medical examinations and attend retraining courses."

Media contact:  Mark Thompson 222 9595 or 322 2311