October 30, 2000

Des Moines proposes ordinance
to train potential bouncers

Seth Harrington
digital•iowa staff reporter
Drake University

DES MOINES, Iowa --Due to the death of Charles Lovelady outside the now closed Des Moines nightclub Graffiti's last spring, a city ordinance has been proposed to require potential bouncers to undergo some form of training before they can begin working. Bruce Bergman, city attorney, said Wednesday the ordinance is "under consideration."

"The city itself does not plan to put together a proposal where it would be liable for that type of training," Bergman said. Russ Underwood, assistant city manager, said the city council has passed a resolution encouraging bar owners to "come together" to have standards and training that are more or less universal.

"We had been talking with the city already," said May Scannell, director of education and communication for the Iowa Hospitality Association. "They wanted to see what we had, and possibly not reinvent the wheel."

"It was a question of how deeply did the city want to get involved in this," Underwood said.

"We're breaking new ground," Bergman said. "To the best of my knowledge -- and we looked -- there are no cities in the United States that have a requirement like this. There is one in Providence (R.I.) and another in a Western state that requires registration of bouncers."

Serious discussion of such a requirement in Iowa began when Lovelady died in a struggle with two bouncers, who were former football players. A state law passed last spring permits cities to require training of all employees as a condition for granting an establishment a liquor license, excepting grocery stores. However, there are not currently any such mandates in place, although establishments can request safety courses.

"We've always had a responsible alcohol service program for going over how alcohol affects the body and the penalties for serving minors," said Scannell. "We have since improved on it; we added a security personnel training program called 'Bar Safe'."

"The first thing the class teaches is not to get to a point where there is physical contact, but there will be instances where you have to protect yourself or your patrons. The security part basically uses a three-step model to resolve conflicts and insure the safety of those present." The program takes four hours, according to Scannell. "We have to look at how to accommodate our members," she said. "Sometimes taking a day out of their business is really hard to do."

The Bar Safe program is taught at establishments belonging to the Iowa Hospitality Association, at the establishment's request. Scannell, who does not like the term "bouncers," said the course for security is rarely taught in Des Moines, because most establishments don't employ security. Also, many of the ones that do, such as Generations and Big Kahuna, hire bouncers from firms outside Des Moines.

"There are not a lot of clubs anymore that employ those folks," Scannell said. Originally, the course only covered company policies and legal information, but the security part was added after Lovelady died.

"The training is broken into a three-phase response model," explained Mike Gillette, chief of police in Madrid, Iowa, who teaches the security portion of the course. "We put a good deal of emphasis on Step 1, which is verbal communication skills. Step 2 is physical intervention -- when a subject is unruly and you need to move them from Point A to Point B, take them outside and hail them cab, whatever. Step 3 is defense of one's self, where the subject is attacking you. But nine out of 10 times, it's only the first phase you'll need. We may not be happy, but we will get individuals to cooperate."

Gillette described the course as a "hands-on course." Gillette said the choke hold, the move that reportedly killed Lovelady, is safe when administered by someone who has been trained. "A properly administered choke is not likely to injure someone," he said. Gillette said many police academies stopped teaching the choke hold after two people died from it in Los Angeles, to avoid red tape. "If I'm in a choke hold by someone who's been trained, I'm just going to sort of go away," Gillette said. "But if I'm put in a sloppy choke hold, I'm going to sort of come alive and fight even harder." At least one witness said that after the bouncers first initiated physical contact with Lovelady, he began throwing punches at them.

Part of the problem with requiring certification of club security, according to Bergman, is that there are no certifying bodies in Des Moines. Bergman said bouncer training "would be additional charges to those that wanted a liquor license in Des Moines ... That's the difficulty; figuring out who provides training and how we achieve a level of comfort."