Security: ID card scanners
In the second episode of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood our high-tech heroes are temporarily stymied when they have to identify a club-goer who has shagged a man to death (if you didn't see it, don't ask). How much easier it would have been if the club in question had an ID scanning system.
Instead of scrolling through all the mugshots on an illegal mugshot database for the entire population, they'd have been able to match the face captured on CCTV with the ID photos of the people who were in the club at the time.
In this respect, though, science fiction has not yet caught up with a real world where IDScan's Clubscan system is already installed in some 200 bars and clubs in 26 UK cities.
This includes Birmingham's famous Broad Street circuit, where West Midlands police have themselves put scanners in 10 bars.
The scanner, a clever device which resembles a miniature clothes wringer, is installed at the pub or bar entrance. Venues insist that every visitor shows some form of photo ID and the card is passed through the scanner. In a couple of seconds all the details on the card pop up on a screen including name and address, date of birth and a picture of the card-holder.
If the individual is underage or undesirable - having previously been barred for instance - a warning flashes up. If they're clear they go on into the bar and the data on them is stored in case there is an incident later.
If they make trouble you can match them up to CCTV footage, bar them from getting back in and share the information you've got on them with the police, Pubwatch and other local bars and clubs.
Clubscan can read 220 different forms of ID, including the usual proof-of-age cards, driving licences, student cards, foreign ID cards and 160 kinds of passport all at the rate of 700 scans an hour - and according to IDScan sales manager Ronnie Menassa it will spot any forgeries.
"Two billion people in the world carry an ID card that Clubscan can recognise," he says. "Most people here have their driving licence on them and under-25s these days expect to be ID'd when they're on a night out.
"We have been developing the system for three years and finally launched the system in January this year. So far the feedback has been positive - especially from venues that have experienced trouble in the past and places that operate a 'no ID, no entry' policy."
As well as the security aspect of ID scanning there is the potential, subject to the demands of the Data Protection Act, to use the details for marketing purposes, and to identify regular customers for VIP treatment.
An operator can also gather statistics through the system which can sharpen up the customer profile - you know exactly how many 18 to 21-year-old males use the place on a Thursday night, for instance, and the postcodes will tell you where most of your clientele are coming from.
Visit www.idscan.co.uk for further details on the system.
