Spring Break
Local bar starts using scanner to check IDs
Alex Koldeway
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
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The scanner rejects driver's licenses that are underage or expired, and detects fake IDs. While the scanner can be useful as a tool, it hasn't replaced the regular bouncers at Pumpers.
Brett Stuard, a bouncer at Pumpers, said they have only been using the scanner for a couple of weeks.
"I find them to be more of a pain than they are useful," he said. "There are some benefits though."
Stuard said the new scanner is helpful with detecting IDs that have been scratched or altered as well as IDs that are expired.
Lt. Tim Gray of the Whitewater Police Department said scanners can be a good way of preventing underage drinking.
"I think it would assist tavern employees verifying IDs," he said. "Anytime you can use a mechanism to verify IDs it acts as a deterrent."
Fat Jack's has a different method of checking IDs. They use one camera to take pictures of people as they walk through the front door and another camera to take a picture of the person's ID. The pictures are cataloged for possible future reference.
Fat Jack's Operations Manager Ryan Berka said bouncers still check every ID by eye before a person is allowed in to drink.
"There's no way I'd rely on a computer to do that," he said. "That's why we still have a bouncer."
Adam Graves, owner of the Hawk's Nest, said he has thought about getting a scanner, but decided they may cause more harm than good.
"They are helpful in some ways, but bouncers might start to rely on them too much and not really look at the ID," he said.
Graves said he trusts his staff to prevent people from using fake IDs.
Chris Slawik, a bartender at the Downstairs, had a similar view about the bouncers he works with.
"We use black lights to check for holograms," he said. "Our bouncers do a pretty good job checking them by eye."
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