Go away, gang members: Kamloops businesses and bars launch Inadmissible Patron Program

Businesses in Kamloops, B.C., are taking a tougher stance against gangs and barring their members.

The crackdown is part of the new Inadmissible PatronProgramthat launches this week involving a couple of dozen businesses and the Kamloops RCMP.

"Anyone that's wearing gang colours, is associated to gang members or leads that high risk lifestyle dealing drugs and violent crime, they're not going to be welcome," said Const. Brad Matchim, who's with the crime prevention unit.

RCMP officers doing bar checks will ask anyone associated with organized crime to leave the establishment.

Matchim brushed aside concerns that identifying a gang member can be vague or discretionary.

"Our members are dealing with these people day in and day out, so we know who the players are in town," he told Shelley Joyce, the host of CBC's Daybreak Kamloops.

Leave or face arrest

An RCMP officer going through a restaurant or bar doesn't need to check in with staff before asking a patron to leave, he said. They'll run background checks as one safeguard against banning innocent bar-goers.

"They've already given us permission through this program that we don't want these people in our establishment," Matchim said.

Similar programs exist in the Lower Mainland and Kelowna.

Typically, Matchim said, gang members who are asked to leave in other places do so peacefully.

"They are aware of the program, and they just get up and pay their bill and away they go," Matchim said.

A patron who refuses to leave can be arrested under the B.C. Trespass Act.

"We want to make the restaurant and bar experience in the nightlife for people safer," he said. "Every city has this issue, and this is just one of the tools that we're using to help tackle this."