Friday, October 27, 2006
Thumbing for a drink
A biometric scheme that scans drinkers' thumbprints before they enter a pub has
helped cut alcohol-related crime in the South Somerset town of Yeovil.
South Somerset District Council said it has seen a 23.5 per cent drop in alcohol-related violent crime inside licensed premises in Yeovil since the system was introduced, compared with figures from the same period last year.
Under the pilot scheme every drinker must supply a thumbprint, name, address and date of birth before being allowed to enter any of the seven licensed premises in the town centre using the technology.
A drinker barred from one pub is then automatically barred from all pubs using the system.
A spokesman from the South Somerset District Council said the thumbprint technology is considered to be a contributing factor to this decline in
alcohol-related crime.
Hat tip (as they say) to the Silicon.com website for the report in the quote.
Just to note that the political composition of SSDC is 39 LD 15 Con and 6 Independents. Anyone from South Somerset around to comment on this experiment which might have some bearing on debates on things like, ooh, identity cards and data protection?
