One year after an unlicensed bouncer allegedly raped and murdered of Imette St. Guillen, the city has taken steps to crack down on nightclub security – but state licensing of bouncers is weak link.
In order to get their license, bouncers are required to take an eight-hour course and a quiz.
But a bouncer on the Lower East Side took a course that was only four hours, and said, “I didn’t leave that course knowing anything more than I already knew. I was totally unprepared for the job and had to learn as I went.”
Each year, bouncers are supposed to take the course in order to renew their license. But, one bouncer said, “It’s a joke. I showed up, signed a paper, paid a fee and walked out . . . New guys come in and they don’t know what to do. They get aggressive right away. That’s not the answer.”
Robert McCrie, a security consultant and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice – where St. Guillen was a student – said the state needs to enact a law changing the requirement and upgrade and enforce the required refresher courses.
McCrie said the classes being given now allow the bouncers to be a “passive audience.”
“They should see a video and do role playing,” he said. “They need to practice.”
“Bouncers need specialized training to deal with potentially dangerous situations,” said McCrie. “They need to know how to calm a situation before it escalates.
“There are problems specific to nightclubs, like inebriated people, cases when you need to throw someone out. None of that is dealt with right now. The current training is simply inadequate.
“It’s not enough to say, oh, bouncers aren’t criminals anymore. You have to make sure they know what they’re doing.”
Meanwhile, the State Liquor Authority has upped its enforcement efforts requiring all bouncers be licensed. In 2005, the SLA issued violations to four New York City establishments for unlicensed bouncers. In 2006, the agency issued 47 violations.