Drinks, Camera, Action

Pubs, clubs and bars oh my, beware, police are now filming your staff and your clientele on their serving and consumption of alcohol.

The Sunday Age reported that the Victorian police have a new task force in town, Razon, and their sole goal is to persecute establishments thats are voiding their liquor license, the number one rule being not to serve a person already intoxicated. The task force secretly film patrons with cameras concealed within their clothes, filming their drinking. With the video evidence and other information and proof gathered, the established is shone the footage and asked to please explain. The police claim they are only doing this to establishments that have received several  warnings of infringement.

Anyone who has gone to a pub and club would know they don't gauge the alertness of the customer but ask what they want and hand it over. Especially in a club where the lighting is poor and the bar is swarmed with thirsty patrons, the drinks are just poured and passed. How do you gauge how much someone has drunk if their friends are buying the drinks for them?

However the task force's methods have got Liberty Victoria and the Victorian Law Reform Commission all in a spin. The people filmed in the footage can be used as evidence and could be considered an invasion of privacy. Liberty Victoria chairman Spencer Zifcak said, "The problem here is that they're targeting large numbers of innocent drinkers in a way that clearly invades their privacy and places their identity and whereabouts on film that can be used in legal proceedings."

I worked in hospitality for many years and in those years, worked behind a bar and turned people away, but I also probably served people that were drunk but didn't show the typical characteristics of a "drunk" person. Ask yourself, how would you define a drunk person? Loud? Obnoxious? Spinning shit? This could be someone sober, or do you need physical proof? Stumbling, knocking chairs over, falling asleep against a wall or aggression and violence? The definition of drunkenness is open to interpretation and the police have acknowledged this.

So, next time your out and about, smile, because your drunken acts may be appearing in a court room near you.

Thoughts? Do you think this is a fair and just way to persecute? Is it an invasion of privacy?