Liquor establishments in Prince George are quickly losing their workaday patrons to antisocial people intent on using the neighbourhood pub as a place to pick fights, deal drugs or intimidate others.
Sometimes problems occur after neglectful bar operators allow a bad element to take over - such was the case with the some of the downtown bars that have shut down over the past few years.
But most business owners train staff and hire bouncers to scan crowds weekend after weekend looking for signs of drugs or impending fights.
Often, indications are clear before incidents escalate - at least within the place itself. But eventually, the mix of bad intentions and alcohol evolves into something no bar owner wants: fights and bloodshed.
The justice system and police seem completely impotent in the face of this overwhelming problem.
Yet business owners' attempts at lawfully addressing problems and bringing the night back to law-abiding residents are met with resistance.
First, a bar watch program failed when police - who under the initiative would be allowed to eject those threatening violence or other serious crime - recoiled from the idea for fear of trampling on individual rights.
And now, a system that can identify people with a violent history is being attacked because - you guessed it - it may infringe on individual rights.
If only bar operators had advance warning that an individual has a history of gangs, drugs and violence. This desperate need to wipe out the scourge of many a liquor establishment was the mother of a nifty invention that can do just that.
The TreoScope EnterSafe system was introduced to Prince George a few months ago in response to an increasingly alarming problem of alcohol-related crime that's led to the shuttering of most downtown watering holes, and police opposition to new ones.
The system photographs customers and scans their drivers license as they enter a bar, keeps the ID on file for 24 hours, then discards the information all under the scrutiny of the Vancouver-based system provider.
It's already successfully repelled criminals, identified individuals wanted by police and provided a safer gathering place for law-abiding folks looking for a good time, according to users.
But the B.C. Civil Liberties Association will have none of it. They say taking photos and identities flies in the face of privacy.
We wonder if anyone at the BCCLA has a clue what it's like to be at the mercy of arrogant criminals coming and going freely knowing a cloak of anonymity covers up their past - and present - behaviours.
Civil libertarians prefer the possibility that innocent people be subjected to violence, business people lose their livelihoods and the city's residents live in fear than the off-chance TreoScope system users don't abide by rules that say information gathered has to be dumped within 24 hours.
They're also being hypocrites by presuming system users are guilty of betraying privacy rights without any indication of this. If this was the justice system presuming guilt without evidence, they'd be screaming foul - with good reason.
It's understandable this extra security measure may put even law-abiding people on edge, but Prince George is losing its freedom to criminals, and protecting criminals' identities helps no one but criminals.
Naming and shaming, however, helps preserve everyone's safety and freedom.
-- Prince George Citizen
