British criminals could be forced to wear US-style “sobriety bracelets” under proposals being considered by Scotland Yard’s commissioner.
Bernard Hogan-Howe believes the detection technology could be a key tool in a crackdown on alcohol-related crime in the capital.
Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan is among American offenders forced to wear the detection tags but they remain untested in England.
Mr Hogan-Howe said he was monitoring a trial in Strathclyde, which is believed to be the first area outside the United States to announce plans to use the bracelets.
The electronic tags can detect whether offenders have broken a ban on drinking while serving a community sentence.
Mr Hogan-Howe said “there is a great opportunity” to harness new technology to combat alcohol-related crime, which contributes to as much as 90 per cent of night-time arrests by his force.
“The technology bracelet tells the offender whether they are offending,” he told delegates at the London policy conference in the city’s Southbank.
“It is important for us to use technology and use these preventative measures around the two areas of alcohol and drug-related crime.” He said “you can literally smell the problem” by walking around police cells at night.
“So many of the those being held are drunk,” he said.
The police chief said use of the technology across the Atlantic had prevented the “vast majority” from breaking bans.
The bracelets, often tagged to the ankle, record the wearer’s alcohol intake by measuring air and perspiration emissions from the skin every 30 minutes.
It reportedly detects blood alcohol levels as low as 0.02 per cent and can tell when alcohol was consumed before electronically transmitting that information to a base monitoring station.
American courts have ordered the devices on thousands of defendants released on bail and awaiting trial for alcohol-related offences, those on probation, and under-age drinkers.
A US judge ordered actress Lohan to wear the bracelet after she failed to show up for a probation hearing relating to a 2007 drink-driving case.
It was announced in October the equipment was being introduced in Scotland as part of a pilot scheme for violent offenders receiving community sentences.