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This story was printed from silicon.com, located at http://www.silicon.com/

Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/publicsector/0,3800010403,39163503,00.htm

Biometrics cut pub brawls by a quarter
Fingerprint before you drink - in Yeovil

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Tuesday 24 October 2006

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.

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But despite rumours the technology is to be introduced in other UK cities, Coventry, Leeds and Sheffield city councils have all told silicon.com that fingerprint scanning is not a technology under consideration.

A spokeswoman from Sheffield City Council told silicon.com that to implement fingerprint recognition the council would need access to the police fingerprint database - and claimed this access is not currently possible.

She added: "If and when ID cards come out we might have the technology to do this but we have no plans [for fingerprint recognition in pubs] in the short term."