The Alcohol License and Review Committee passed the enforcement of stiffer bail deposits for fake-identification violations Wednesday night.
Currently, anyone arrested for giving a fake ID to an underaged person has a bail deposit set at $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second, $300 for the third and $500 for more. Anyone caught with a fake ID currently faces the same penalties, but the ordinance passed by the ALRC would set bail deposits at $300 for everyone caught with a fake ID.
The change is required in order to put Madison law in line with state statutes.
City attorney Jennifer Zilavy said the change is necessary because Madison has adopted some sections of state law, and if some sections are adopted, all must be adopted.
“The city’s bail deposit is less than what the state was demanding,” she said. “Bail deposits were only being written at a minimum of $162.”
The ordinance must now pass the City Council before it goes into effect.
In other business, the ALRC passed several guidelines for bar owners’ use of video cameras.
Stipulations include signs posted on the bar’s door indicating to customers they could be videotaped and requirements that tapes be stored for at least 30 days.
Zilavy said she changed the recommendation from 90 days to 30, because 90 would be too cumbersome for bar owners.
Bullfeathers owner Dick Lyshek agreed that 90 days is too long for tape storage.
“You end up with boxes and boxes of videotapes in a couple of weeks,” Lyshek said.
The report also clarified that a bar owner’s use of cameras is voluntary.
ALRC member Bill Cosh said it is important to give bar owners the responsibility for cameras because otherwise some owners would try to pin the blame for camera use on the ALRC.
“One of the reasons bar owners wanted cameras is not for safety reasons, but for employee theft,” Cosh said. “There is a concern that some bar owners don’t want to upset their employees and instead make the ALRC look like the big nasty mandaters.”
If the ordinance passes the City Council, any bar using video cameras would have to comply with the ALRC’s measures, and police could use the cameras for investigations whenever necessary.
Sgt. Emil Quast said current law already allows police to seize video cameras when searching any establishment.
The ALRC also passed an ordinance to create a committee to confront drinking in downtown parks.
Cosh requested that two State Street residents be included in the committee because he worried if drinking in parks were eliminated, it would shift panhandlers into State Street.
“Don’t go running off to solve instances in parks by making my neighborhood more hazardous,” Cosh said. “For those who don’t live around State Street, they can’t begin to understand the frustration. If I can get home without being panhandled five times tonight, I’d consider it good.”
In a Madison police department report, Quast said the police are working on compiling a database of all alcohol-related violations downtown.
Zilavy said recent citations in downtown bars include underaged drinking at the Orpheum, Stillwaters and Madhatters, as well as over-serving at the Angelic.
