Law intended to make bars safer goes into effect Jan. 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A new law that requires bartenders and servers to be trained on how to spot sexual assaults and sex trafficking will be going into effect on Jan. 1.

Lawmakers hope this law will prevent sexual assaults and drink-spiking incidents.

Natalie Dijon felt safe going in and out of the various bars on Broadway.

“The whole environment then they have security that always checks us in everybody’s checking IDs,” Dijon said.

But that’s not always the case. According to Lorraine McGuire at the Sexual Assault Center (SAC), alcohol plays a huge part in sexual assaults.

“50% of cases include alcohol and that’s whether by the perpetrator or also by the victim,” McGuire said. “It is the most common date rape drug that is out there.”

She broke down the training bartenders will now have to take.

“The training helps to understand not only the intersectionality between sexual assaults and alcohol, but it also helps them to understand what are common other date rape drugs,” McGuire said.

The SAC has been training bars on this topic with Safe Bar, for six years. McGuire said this new training will allow them to reach more people they couldn’t do on their own.

“We worked really hard to get the safe bar program into as many bars as possible but as you know we can’t get into every single bar for a lot of reasons so this legislation allows the actual servers and bartenders to get the training,” McGuire said.

McGuire added the SAC worked with the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission on what would be included in the training.

The training must be at least three-and-a-half hours long and include training about the role of alcohol in sexual assault and harassment. They must also be trained in how to best ensure patrons are safe and learn about bystander intervention.

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