A proposed law before Ocean City’s Town Council would force resort hotels and motels to obtain photo ID from guests, or else face a $1,000 fine.
The board of Ocean City’s Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association unanimously opposes the idea, said HMRA executive director Susan Jones. She said having each and every guest show photo ID would be “cumbersome,” but that a majority of hotels already ask for it.
“We found it a little too intrusive,” she said. “What we were most against in that part of the ordinance was a fine, because how can you tell somebody how to run their business? That’s not a public safety issue.”
“Obviously, we want to work with the police, but in its current written form, we couldn’t support it,” she added.
The matter was on the Town Council’s agenda for this week’s meeting, but it was postponed without discussion.
Ocean City Police Chief Bernadette DiPino says it is a matter of public safety.
She asked resort leaders to consider the law as a proactive community policing idea –a tool, she said, meant to help identify any hotel guest suspected of committing a crime. It also would be a measure helping homeland security, she said.
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100428/WCT01/4280429
