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October 27, 2006
WALES: Nightclub revellers to have their fingerprints taken as ID
(Daily Post (Liverpool) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) A NORTH Wales nightclub at the centre of a recent police inquiry into a man's death is set to introduce a unique fingerprinting ID scheme to track its members.
Blu in Pwllheli has lodged an order for the first nightclub fingerprinting scheme in Wales, which should be up and running in a week.
The scheme would see every member's fingerprint and a photo of their faces stored on a database, which can track exactly who is in the club at any time.
The scheme comes a year after a 36-year-old man died in the club, leading to 278 people in the venue being questioned by police over his death.
In May, a man was cleared of the manslaughter of dad-of-two James Cook who died after he was punched while in the nightclub on October 15.
The machines are produced by Colchester-based company CreativeCode Ltd, which has sold 25 machines across the UK.
Each one consists of a matchbox-sized fingerprint scanner and a camera which can be wired up to any computer.
Cards with a fingerprint and a photo of the club member are then produced, with each member's identity stored on a database.
The nearest club to Pwllheli using a CreativeCode machine is in Goole, East Yorkshire. Martin Mattey, a director of CreativeCode, confirmed Blu had lodged an order for the machine, which costs pounds 750, with a pounds 30 monthly subscription fee.
Mr Mattey said: "Imagine a membership system for a video club, where they give you a plastic card.
"It's very similar to that, but one of the main benefits is that this is proof that you are who you say you are, as opposed to a platinum membership card.
"If you are going to cause trouble, it is possible for the owners to go into that database and see who was in there that night.
"There's no hiding place. But it's not about picking people out and victimising them. It's about control and the venue making an informed choice."
Among the biggest buyers of the machines so far are South Somerset Police, who bought six machines, holding 6,000 members, for use in pubs across Yeovil.
Figures released by South Somerset District Council this week showed alcohol-related crime had dropped 23.5% in the six venues involved in Yeovil's fingerprint security pilot.
Notes on members' behaviour are made on the Yeovil venues' database.
Mr Mattey said the machines would be widespread within a few years and that Blu were leading the way.
He said: "Biometric technology like this is not going to be new in a few years. You'll be getting your shopping and petrol using fingerprints.
"We will be using some form of biometrics every day in a few years' time."
No-one at Blu was available to comment last night.
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Copyright 2006 Liverpool Daily Post & Echo Ltd
(source: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-wales-nightclub-revellers-have-their-fingerprints-taken-as-/2006/10/27/2020917.htm)
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