Aberdeen council bosses have launched a probe over claims a private firm is using a controversial noise-emitting device to stop youths loitering.
Councillors on the licensing committee were given a presentation by the local authority’s anti-social behaviour team this week.
Officers told members that they had received complaints of a private firm setting up a mosquito device to deter loitering outside their premises.
The machines emit high-pitched frequencies that can only be heard by children and teenagers and aim to make them move on from areas they are placed in.
However they have proved highly controversial, with some critics calling them a “sonic weapon” that is indiscriminate towards any youngsters who maybe nearby.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, has claimed that the sound is “untested and unregulated” and that it can be a “sonic weapon directed against children and young people”.
A report prepared for the Council of Europe called for a ban in 2010, suggesting use of the Mosquito may breach human rights laws.
However propoents say they are effective at warding off anti-social behaviour caused by young people.
Permission is needed to have one operating on owned premises.
A council spokesman would not reveal which firm was involved in the ongoing case but said the local authority had “no intention” of deploying the machines themselves.