Kyle Geissler talks with Janesville Gazette reporter Ted Sullivan about new devices used for security at a Janesville bar.
Using a handheld scanner, Quotes Bar and Grill employee Drew Mortimer, right, checks the ids of patrons Jose Mendoza and Shannon Leitner.
The latest thing in ID checks is a hand held scanner that reads id cards and allows the user to take a photo of the person trying to gain entrance.
JANESVILLE — Jon Sunby strolled into Quotes Bar & Grill where a large bouncer blocked his way and used a handheld gadget to scan his driver's license and snap his picture.
The techno device verified Sunby's ID was real and saved his personal information and photo, so if Sunby started trouble later in the night, he'd get caught.
"Unless you did something really bad, what are you worried about? It's not like you're handing over your Social Security number," Sunby said. "It's just your driver's license. They want to know if it's legit."
Although bars in southern Wisconsin prefer to train bouncers and bartenders to catch fake IDs and provide security, Quotes has added new technology that no other taverns in the region are using.
"What we're trying to do is cut on incidents happening inside the bar," said Randall Wayne, the bar's head of security. "Basically what it has done is it has cut our bar incidents by 80 percent.
"It's taken the anonymity away."
But critics say the scanners are invasive, expensive and only as good as the people operating them.
"I think it would be a good thing, but people have big brother issues," said Patti Marsicano, vice president of the Walworth County Tavern League.
"Do they work on all IDs? What is the cost of these machines? How do they work?" she said. "I just don't think that enough is known about them, at least not around here."
How it works
Quotes is on Main Street. The bar has pool tables, dart boards, video deer hunting and bowling. Several TVs are on the walls. A DJ plays music. And famous quotes are written on the walls and chalkboard.
Everyone who enters Quotes on Wednesday through Saturday after 9 p.m. has his or her ID scanned. The gadget recognizes IDs from all 50 states and military branches by their magnetic strips or digital pixels.
"If you don't have a valid ID, you can't come in," said Denise Carpenter, owner of Quotes.
The device has a small touch screen, keypad and small camera lens on its end.
The scanner catches fake IDs and records a person's driver's license number, birth date, address, height, weight, eye and hair colors. It also saves a photo of what the patron was wearing that night.
The machine can search for people by name, gender, description or number of visits.
It can tell the bar owner the number of patrons the bar has each night, their age, gender and how often they visit.
The information helps the bar learn about its clientele and form a marketing strategy.
Saved information later can be downloaded into the bar's computer, Wayne said, and Quotes has about 5,000 people wired into its hard drive.
The data is not sold or shared, he said.
The bar has been using the scanner named IDetect since May.
"We had to train our own crowd," he said. "They now have their IDs out when they walk into the door."
High-tech security
Like any bar, Quotes has incidents where intoxicated people fight, break glasses or commit a crime such as stealing.
The scanner has reduced the number problems.
"One of the main reasons people will misbehave is because they have anonymity," Carpenter said. "But when you can record their name and take their photo, they no longer have that anonymity.
"It is a wonderful deterrent."
When problems occur, the bouncers can identify suspects in the device and hand their personal information and photo to police.
"Case closed," Wayne said.
The bouncers also can place a message with the person's name in the computer. Next time the person tries to enter the bar, the machine will tell the bouncer the individual is banned and provide an explanation.
"We have quite a long list of people who can't come into this bar," Carpenter said. "With this new gadget, we can keep the undesirables out."
The Janesville Police Department has used the machine to its advantage as well, Carpenter said. And the bar has helped police catch about five people.
Officers occasionally give the bar names of "persons of interest" to program into the machine, she said. If the person shows up, he or she is busted.
"As soon as that ID is scanned, a notation shows up: ‘Keep this guy in the building, but call police,'" Carpenter said. "I think it's a wonderful tool not only for us, but for the city.
"We've seen groups of people come to the door, see the scanner and just walk away," Carpenter said. "And ultimately we don't want them as patrons anyway."
'Not always practical'
Quotes claims the machine hasn't hurt business.
"We're a popular enough bar that we know we don't have to put up with nonsense, and nonsense is not good for business," Carpenter said. "The twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings don't want to play with underagers.
"They want a nice, clean, safe place to play."
Critics say the scanner is saving private information, said Walworth County's Tavern League vice president, who has talked with several bar owners about the machines.
The scanners also are expensive and unavailable for testing, Marsicano said.
Instead, bar owners prefer to use trained staff, ID guidebooks, black lights and other tools to detect fakes, Marsicano said.
"It's not always practical," she said of the scanners. "I would think that the places that are having problems or are having problems with underage drinkers are the places that might need one."
Dennis Salverson, owner of Coyote Grill on Center Street in Whitewater, said the machines are overpriced. He said states regularly change their IDs, making the technology obsolete.
"I just never saw any cost savings in it," Salverson said. "A $1,400 investment that might go away in a year, that's very expensive."
Instead, staff members at Coyote Grill are trained to practice crowd control.
"We demand that our young people behave themselves," Salverson said. "I don't put up with any BS."
Patrons don't mind
When Sunby and his friend Jacob Elsberry entered Quotes, they didn't mind getting scanned and photographed.
They understood that it kept out the riffraff.
"I've never seen something like that used," Elsberry said. "I think it's great."
Damien Coffey didn't let the scanner bother him either, but his brother, Dylan Coffey, was slightly troubled.
Damien said the machine helps enforce the drinking age. He thought it was good for business and customers.
His brother, Dylan, said the machine was too invasive, but it didn't prevent him from entering the bar.
"It makes me feel uncomfortable," he said, but it's not a big deal.
WHAT AND WHY
ID scanners record and save this information:
-- Name
-- Birth date
-- Address
-- Driver's license number
-- Photograph
-- Gender
-- Hair color
-- Eye color
-- Height
-- Weight
Bar owners use ID scanners for these reasons:
-- To detect fake IDs
-- To record a patron's personal information
-- To catch people who cause trouble
-- To send notifications when a banned person tries to enter the bar
-- To help police catch "persons of interest" if they enter the bar
-- To take away the anonymity of visitors
-- To deter bad behavior
-- To keep out undesirable patrons who might be leery of the scanner
-- To learn about people who visit the bar for marketing reasons
-- To track the number of visitors on any given night