A town in Britain's Surrey plans to install fingerprint scanners at pubs and nightclubs that will help deny revellers access if they are using fake ID or have been barred elsewhere.The Epsom and Ewell Community Safety Partnership and national organisation Pubwatch plan to launch the safer drinking initiative as part of a national programme.Two scanners are to be rotated around premises to take the fingerprints of those on nights out. Details would be recorded and crosschecked against ID records in hopes of tackling drugs problems, and anti-social or underage drinking.They will tell door staff instantly if someone is underage, has bail conditions restricting access, or using fake ID.However, British rights group Liberty told the Epsom Guardian that the plan amounted to “harvesting” massive amounts of personal data, adding that “people in a free society should not be forced to hand over confidential personal information just to have a drink”.Surrey Police told the newspaper that all personal information is kept on a protected database in line with the Data Protection Act, and that can ask for their details not to be kept on the database.PC Tom Arthur of the Epsom and Ewell Safer Neighbourhood Team said: “We are aware that there are drug users and dealers who are brazen enough to go about their business in public in our borough.”We hope that these scanners can act as a deterrent and stamp out the kind of behaviour that can ruin innocent members of the public's night out.”We want those in our community to feel like they can enjoy themselves without the fear of becoming a victim, or witnessing any criminal or anti-social behaviour.”

Also in the news:

Default ThumbnailFace forensics announces capability to identify dead bodies Default ThumbnailScottish police to use mobiles for crime scene fingerprint checks Default ThumbnailCredence ID expands to target projects in Latin America and Caribbean