The Katherine Times can reveal that the government is investigating options to complement the current police presence at bottle shops with technology that could flag individuals who are restricted from purchasing alcohol.

During a visit to Katherine on August 20, Police Minister Peter Chandler said that, while police officers would remain stationed at bottle shops, technology also needed to be utilised.

“We’re working really hard at the moment on how do we turn something that was effectively just going to be temporary and make it a long-term solution,” he explained.

“I wont rule out technology as being part of that equation.”

Mr Chandler said the options being investigated included “fingerprint scanning through to facial recognition technology”.

“My issue with the [current] TBL is that it’s asking every single person to pull out their licence and have that licence scanned,” he said.

“The difference with the technology I’m looking at, it doesn’t ask you for your information.

“If it’s facial recognition, for instance, only the people that are on some kind of restriction of alcohol purchase are going to come upon the system.”

The NT Police Association has been critical of TBLs since their implementation, with president Paul McCue branding them as “not the answer”.

However, Mr Chandler stood by manning them with officers.

“There’s no better example of proactive policing than standing in bottle shops and preventing a serious assault happening later in the day,” he said.

When asked whether licencees would be hit with the bill for any technology upgrades, Mr Chandler said he believed there needed to be a “shared responsibility” with the government.

“That’s my personal opinion and it’s not a government position at the moment, but that’s what I’ll be advocating for,” he said.

“I think government has a responsibility here because we’re trying to protect the community.”