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12.02.07 : Scheme calls time on anti-social behaviour

People working in pubs and clubs will soon have an extra hi-tech weapon in their fight against anti-social behaviour.

A new instant photo messaging service backed up by a powerful data base storing information on persistent offenders and incident hotspots is being launched at next week’s national Pubwatch conference and promises to stop troublemakers in their tracks.

The City-watch/pub initiative is designed to link Pubwatch members with photos and other information about incidents.

“Pub and door staff will be able to instantly share images of customers involved in abusive, violent or destructive behaviour,” explained Andy Parkes, strategic director for the new scheme.

“These images then allow staff to identify troublemakers before they can gain entry to other licensed premises preventing problem behaviour moving from pub to pub.”

The City-watch/pub scheme will be launched at the Pubwatch conference at The Royal Court Hotel in Coventry on Tuesday February 20 with delegates being offered the chance to see the system in action and sign up for a free trial.

It requires no special equipment other than a mobile phone with photo-messaging capability and can cost members as little as £15 per month.

Staff simply send a photo of people involved in a disturbance by text message to the City-watch/pub distribution centre which then INSTANTLY passes it on to other scheme members.

All the information supplied is recorded on a database which can analyse incidents and provide details of the overall trends in behaviour, peak incident periods and statistics as well as track general behavioural patterns. Mapping technology also helps identify trouble hotspots.

This will enable members to pinpoint repeat troublemakers with persistent offenders finding that their behaviour at various establishments is recorded in one place.

“We can help link people involved in different incidents in different places on different days or weeks – providing a real picture of people involved in repeat incidents,” said Mr Parkes.

“Members will be able to develop a history of likely trouble spots, people and times and can easily share this with everyone involved over the internet.”

To ensure that none of the information is wasted, City-watch/pub also sends out a gallery of people under ban directly to registered mobile phones every day.

The ban gallery can also be set up as a constant feed with new images added as they happen so photos can be continuously shown on a laptop behind a bar or under a counter.