Football hooligans targeted with new technology

New innovative technology is now available to combat football hooliganism.

A portable passport reader is now being used at Gatwick, Heathrow and Luton airports, and at Waterloo and Dover international terminals.

Currently there are 3,500 banning orders in place. Some 200 offenders failed to hand in their passports before the start of the World Cup. Since the World Cup began around 160,000 passports have been scanned across the UK. Luton airport alone has scanned 37,000 passports resulting in 60 arrests.

The passport reader, developed by mobile data experts APD Communications is no bigger than a standard-sized briefcase and comprises a notebook computer, modem, document reader, remote battery and mains charger.

“We`ve managed to control those hooligans that we knew about, however as we saw from the troubles last week there are a lot of ‘Joe Publics’ out there who will behave violently,” said Tim Royle of Bedfordshire Police Special Branch.