Forty restaurants - including central Vancouver branches of Cactus Club, Earl's, the Keg, Milestones and Moxies - have signed on, displaying front-window signs declaring their Restaurant Watch commitment. Others are expected to join as the program gains momentum.
Their staff and owners are being organized to call police if they suspect patrons are either gang members, gang associates, drug traffickers or someone with a "propensity for violence," Superintendent Warren Lemcke of the Vancouver Police Department said.
"If we walk into a restaurant and we see a person that fits one of those four criteria, they will be asked to leave."
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association dismissed the program as "bloody odd," with the easy potential to threaten the rights of restaurant patrons. Micheal Vonn, BCCLA policy director, wondered how restaurant staff will be able to tell people with gang-like appearances are actual gangsters with violent tendencies.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...Story/National
I don't oppose the idea of keeping restaurant patrons safe... just a little confused on
how they intend to correctly identify "gangsters" and give them the boot.
I was actually refused entry into a night club in Vancouver last year because I was wearing an Ed Hardy t-shirt. Apparently, according to my friends there, most night clubs have refused entry to any one wearing this brand.
Are they going to use the same "criteria" for restaurants? Will they refuse entry to people wearing expensive suits because members of organized crime have the bankroll to wear $5000 suits? What about successful, legit businessmen?
What other criteria could they possibly use other than clothes? Colours? I really doubt "gang colours" would be a useful indicator since we're not talking about the Bloods or the Crips here. Race?
Just a little confused on how they're going to determine by some one's physical appearance that they have a "propensity for violence".