criminal and civil liability that is raised when an employee uses excessive force. We’ll also touch on how to lessen liability with some simple steps and tools. Our series will conclude with Part 3 in Las Vegas at the 2014 Nightclub & Bar Show on Monday, March 24th at 2:10pm when I present a one-hour seminar entitled Understanding Legal Use of Force. This one-hour seminar will quickly touch on Parts 1 and 2, but will also fully cover legal language regarding what might be considered use of force, defending force, documentation of force, and police responses to use of force in a bar or club. For those of you that attend my seminar in Vegas on that Monday, you’ll also walk out with a Certificate of Completion. So let’s get started. Why do employees use excessive force? There are several possible reasons, but let’s stick to the four most common: The guard is a naturally aggressive person. When they tell a guest to move on or to stop some sort of minor policy violation, at the first resistance from the guest— BAM!—the guard is putting the guest in a headlock and tossing him out a side door, or worse. The guard is caught off-guard. While trying to lightly move a drunk guest out of a doorway or after giving simple requests to a group of semi-intoxicated young guys, the guests lightly push the guard away and—BAM!—the guard is seeing red. They never expected the guests to lash out at them, they’re caught off guard or didn’t properly evaluate the guests, and in an instant, the employee blows up and becomes the aggressor. The guard loses control. In this case, the guard has a customer in a bear hug or they’ve got a guest on the ground. Everything is cool and the guard is in total control, but the guest doesn’t follow their commands and keeps resisting and cursing at the guard. The guard loses control and goes too far with his arm bar or worse. The guard doesn’t know what to do. Most bouncers, if taught the rules, if given the opportunity to learn these rules, and if held accountable for their actions, will do a better job. If a guard believes they can just punch a drunk guest in the face after he or she pushes the guards hand away, that’s a problem. If a guard believes they can aggressively shove an intoxicated, rude guest backwards when he or she doesn’t move away fast enough, that’s a problem.
Drunks I think we can all safely admit that normally, a sober guest isn’t causing problems in your bar or club. Yes, on a rare occasion there might be an issue with non-drinking guest, but most bar or club fight suspects or victims are overintoxicated to some extent; they are drunk. Here’s an odd question for you: What’s the “job” of a drunk in your bar? Think about drunks you’ve seen and think about what they do. Here’s a small list; Cry, yell, stagger, fall, sleep, throw up, urinate, bother other guests, get aggressive, fight, etc. Think about it—the “job” of nearly all drunks is to act inappropriately. They don’t mean anything by it; most of
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Most bouncers, if held accountable for their actions and given the opportunity to learn, can and will do a better job. the time they’re just a pain in your backside. But they’re drunk. What do you expect? If you ask your security team that same question, trust me, once they understand what you’re asking, they will have no problem giving you the correct answer. Why do they know the answer? Why do they know what a drunk’s “job” is? Because they have experience dealing with hundreds of intoxicated guests. So if your bouncer knows that a drunk will get angry, yell, become aggressive and fight, why does the bouncer lose control? Why do they get caught off-guard? It’s really a simple answer: The guard forgets and reacts incorrectly. Out of 50 guests, the guard will have to seriously interact with one. They may talk to a dozen intoxicated guests but will probably have a serious issue with just one in 50. This is a recipe for becoming relaxed and complacent— and then losing control. So how do we keep guards on their toes when they have to deal with just that one guest in 50, yet still have managers and owners feel confident the guard isn’t going to beat the crap out of that one drunk guest? Two more simple answers: First, move security up the priority list of daily discussion points. I know that torn carpet is important to fix and yes, the air conditioner screen needs to be cleaned and you need to hire a new server, but NONE of these tasks can cost you as much money as an untrained, unprepared, and unsupervised bouncer when they have to put their hands on an intoxicated guest. Secondly, constantly teach your employees that people come to your bar or club to have fun, and to have fun, some guests will consume alcohol and start to act inappropriately. Trust me, this simple step-by-step primer for your
February 2014 Bar Business Magazine
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