Head of security at Weymouth bar says mandatory searches won't stop drink spiking
By law security for night time venues can't fully search people, they can only pat them down
The head of security for a Weymouth bar says searching people as they come into nightclubs and bars won't stop drink spikings.
A petition is calling on the Government to make it law for people to be searched before entering a night-time venue after hundreds of reported spiking cases in the last two months.
Warren Northover, who works at PlayYard in the town, explained to Greatest Hits Radio Dorset that security only have the power pat people down, it's the Police who have the rights to fully search a person.
"As someone who has worked on the door for 26 years, you don't usually find anything in searches because people can hide things in places that we can't search.
"We ask people to turn out their pockets, open up their bags and take stuff out, we won’t put our hands in the bags because we don’t know what’s in there, so we ask them to empty their bags out.
"But, if want to hide it, they can hide it in their socks, their underwear, places we are not allowed to search."
Night venue security aren't given training on drink spiking but Warren has advised that people should keep hold of their drinks at all times, don't leave drinks unattended, don't accept one from a stranger and get a cover to go over the bottle or glass.
In a small town like Weymouth, Warren says people working on the door know most of their customers, it's in the summer months that they need to be more vigilant.
"In PlayYard it is a small venue, and I can keep an eye on there, it is a seated policy, so there is not much mixing around, in larger venue, you can have more security to be more vigilant, to walk around and keep an eye on people.
"We do keep an eye on things and we do walk around but it’s off our own backs to talk amongst ourselves and put ideas to each other to know what we are doing.
"You can add deterrents, if you had ID scanners on the door, then you have an idea of who has come in, but it’s very hard to look at someone and be suspicious of them. Then we can check CCTV if something has happened to find out who they are."
PlayYard has a zero-tolerance policy
In the summer, PlayYard owner Andy Cooke vowed to keep his customers safe on a night out in an Instagram post.
He put in a zero-tolerance policy against men and women showing unacceptable behaviour on nights out.
Warren said that since the policy was put in place he has only had to kick one person out.
"The policy is still in place, I think I have had one incident there, where a gentlemen kept on moving seats and sitting with other groups and talking to them.
"He was removed and asked to leave very quickly because we don’t want people to feel uncomfortable or vulnerable in our premises.
"On that incident I said to the gentlemen, I have asked you to sit down in your seat, they feel uncomfortable and please can you leave. Nine times out of 10 when you ask someone to leave, they leave.
An e-petition sparked a Parliamentary debate
On Monday an e-petition calling on the Government to require nightclubs to thoroughly search guests on entry was discussed in Parliament.
Hannah Thomson wants to make it law that nightclubs must search guests on arrival to prevent harmful weapons and other items entering the establishment. This could be a pat down search or metal detector, but must involve measures being put in place to ensure the safety of the public.
172,664 people have already signed the petition.
The Government outcome was:
"The existing law already enables steps to be taken to prevent these awful crimes. The Act of Parliament that governs the sale of alcohol – the Licensing Act 2003 – allows local authorities to set conditions on any business that wants to sell alcohol, in order to reduce crime. These can include requiring there to be suitably trained and accredited door staff and CCTV. Furthermore, a local licensing authority can, when appropriate, require a licence-holder to enforce entry searches as a condition of a premises licence.
"Local Authorities are best placed to decide what is needed according to local circumstances. It would not be appropriate to impose blanket conditions: for example, to require all licensed premises to have a metal arch on entry – this might be suitable for a large city club but would not be so for a rural pub or restaurant."