A doorman stands beside an ID scanner, which is a requirement for entry onto a licensed premises after 9pm in Kings Cross. Picture: Chris McKeen

While a report released last week by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR) attributed a 49 per cent drop in non-domestic assaults in the precinct to the effects of lockout and last drinks laws, the Kings Cross Liquor Accord (KCLA) and local police believe the scanners have been just as crucial.

The drop in assaults in Kings Cross was found to be three times as much as the drop in the CBD entertainment precinct, which saw a drop of just 13 per cent — a difference which police and the liquor accord believed was due to the scanners.

Superintendent Michael Fitzgerald. Picture Craig GreenhillSource:News Corp Australia

Kings Cross LAC Commander, Superintendent Michael Fitzgerald, said police believed scanners to be of equal importance as lockout laws to reducing assaults in the precinct.

“While there are a number of factors as to why Kings Cross precinct has had a greater increase, Kings Cross police regard the ID scanners as equally important to reducing crime in licensed premises as the lock outs,” Superintendent Fitzgerald said.

The scanners have “not only reduced violence in the licensed premises but have had massive reductions in thefts and other crime occurrences in those premises,” he said.

The accord’s Doug Grand agreed.

“The only major difference is that we have the ID scanners. On street assaults in Kings Cross have reduced more than anywhere else and we believe it’s because ID scanners take away the anonymity of patrons,” Mr Grand said.

The system of using ID scanners, in which venues are required to scan patron identification between 9pm and 5am every night of operation, was introduced in June 2014 — four months after the lockout laws — in an attempt to address the levels of alcohol-related violence in Kings Cross.

Kings Cross Liquor Accord’s Doug Grand pictured at World Bar in Kings Cross. Picture: Carly EarlSource:News Corp Australia

The KCLA had lobbied for the introduction of the scanners without the introduction of the lockout laws, after research from a similar system in Newcastle indicated the scanners were the most effective method of reducing alcohol-related violence.

Data from BOSCAR shows a slight increase in assaults just after the lockout laws were introduced, but a sharp decline around the middle of the year when the ID scanners came into effect.

The introduction of the scanners has significantly altered patron behaviour, Mr Grand said.

Violence increases outside lockout law areas

Supt Fitzgerald said the combination had “created an environment where it is never been safer to socialise in Kings Cross licensed premises”.

A report released last year into the impact of the scanners also revealed that the NSW Police believed ID scanners should also be mandatory for high risk venues in the Sydney CBD.

Mr Grand said he would like the significant effects of the scanners recognised in the BOSCAR report, and for police to be given the power to introduce long term and short term banning orders for venues.

Originally published as ID scanners ‘as effective as lockouts’