MILWAUKEE - Common Council President Willie Hines is drafting a potentially controversial plan to search vehicles outside bars.

He began working on the proposal after a spate of high profile shootings that occurred after fights spilled outside of local nightclubs. "They've happened after the operator acted responsibly. They put the person out and then the person waits," Hines says.
Hines says he is still working out the details and the constitutional issues with the assistance of Milwaukee's city attorney and the police chief.

He hopes to at least allow bar owners to post signs warning of random searches in their lots. It would be based on specific parameters.

"We'll establish a criteria. We will then give any operator the opportunity to say I like that concept. I volunteer. I want to be identified as a random search location," he says.

Hines is also questioning the possibility of extending those searches to city streets. He expects challenges from civil liberties lawyers. But, he doesn't believe he'll get much objection from central city club owners. "If you don't have any intent on bringing a gun to the location, then you won't be troubled. You won't be bothered," Hines maintains.

Club Escape on the city's northwest side recently lost its license after a series of shootings culminating in a shootout that left one man dead in the parking lot.

Owner Craig Berry says he would support the plan. He believes the right to search cars could have kept him in business. "It would have been one less gun that would have been here or at least a deterrent," he explained.

Hines is still waiting on a legal opinion from the city attorney's office. He hopes to have some sort of measure in place for the summer months.