Calgary shelter will scan fingerprints to keep clients safe.

Calgary Drop-in Centre is scanning the fingerprints of its homeless clients, saying people have been sneaking into the facility. Dermot Baldwin, head of the Calgary Drop-In Centre, said people who have been previously banished from the shelter will use fake identification to get in. The homeless shelter is testing a new security system, expected to be fully operational shortly, by scanning clients' fingerprints. "This is a private system, internal to us. Out of 187 people, we had four people that wanted to know more about it, with one serious objection," said Baldwin. The shelter started looking into beefing up security after a 2007 survey of its clients showed they fear for their safety. A survey of about 300 clients showed three-quarters of them have been victims of crime, often robbery and assaults that were committed outside the shelter by strangers. But the same number also said they did not feel any safer inside the centre.