It’s Not Your Imagination

Those beefy bouncers who look and act like ex-cons really are ex-cons:

Cops raided 42 bars last weekend and nabbed 41 unlicensed security guards — including some convicted of rape and other serious crimes, NYPD officials revealed yesterday.

At a City Council hearing yesterday on a bill to beef up regulation of bouncers, a top NYPD official testified that of those 41 unlicensed guards, 17 had previous arrest records for everything from rape to illegal gun possession and drug charges.

The NYPD didn’t immediately release the names of the bars and officials said they won’t shut them down. Instead, bar owners will be required to pay a fine and show proof of proper registration.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the proposed legislation would allow the city to shut down bars that employ unlicensed bouncers or hire bouncers who have criminal records.

But NYPD officials said they would like to make the law even tougher – requiring more training for security guards, expanding the definition of guard to include anyone who might be called upon to break up a fight, such as a host or hostess, and making bar owners keep detailed records of who is on duty at any given time.

“This is an all-too-common occurrence when police respond to a violent incident — the owner of the bar has no documentation of who was working security and the bouncer who may have been involved has disappeared,” said NYPD Deputy Chief Brian Conroy, who oversaw last weekend’s raid.