ID scanners will be installed in all Kings Cross pubs, clubs and bars as a solution to the ongoing epidemic of violence in the Sydney nightlife hub.
According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, the scanners will be located in every venue on the strip by the middle of next year so that all patrons entering the venues will be confirmed and recorded on the scanners. This will assist New South Wales police in preventing crime by monitoring serial troublemakers, in addition to lamer preventative measures like distribution of lollipops, playing slower music, increasing night lights and porta-potties that were announced previously.
The idea is that the scanners will help cops identify both offenders and victims of criminal behaviour, and stop individuals identified as violent from having access to any venue in the Cross.
This initiative is a positive action toward bringing an end to the kind of random acts of violence that have plagued the Cross – like the unprovoked attack that that caused the tragic death of teenager Thomas Kelly who died after being king hit by an 18-year-old man. However, this kind of heavily monitored security technique will inevitably upset some people.
If you’ve watched even the most commercial of Science-Fiction movies (see: Gattaca, The Island) you’ll find the idea of ID scanning a little sinister; and if you’re a full blown paranoid conspiracy theorist you’ll like it even less. Of course we all want the awful Kings Cross fuckwits to be siphoned out by the authorities and kept away, so getting Big Brother’d might be the price we have to pay.
What are your thoughts on the ID Scanner proposal? Good idea? Bad idea? Scary?
