World’s largest biker bar deploys new cams to mitigate theft .

Sep 2, 2011 by admin

STURGIS, S.D.–Every August half a million bikers descend on this small town in South Dakota for the country’s largest motorcycle rally.

The Full Throttle Saloon, at the heart of the week-long rally, caters to roughly 30,000 bikers a day and handles millions of dollars in cash over the course of the rally. This is not your average bar. The Full Throttle has 15 acres of bar space and more than 100 bartenders working at any one time during the rally, according to Chris Donahue, the bar’s spokesman. The bar’s website claims it is “the world’s largest biker bar.”

Mix young rowdy bikers, older motorcycle enthusiasts and lots of alcohol and you have a “powder keg” with plenty of opportunities for incidents, Donahue told Security Director News. “All together in one bar, that’s a recipe for disaster if not managed correctly,” he said.

Part of managing that crowd is video surveillance. Over the past five years, the Full Throttle has spent roughly $40,000 on beefing up its security system, including 20 new HD megapixel cameras from IQinVision. Donahue likes to tout the claim that the Full Throttle has a more robust security system than some Las Vegas casinos.

Besides monitoring the crowd, the cameras “help us resolve conflicts in cases where an employee accuses another of theft or where we have reason to believe a bartender or teller may be stealing,” Donahue said.