The police have launched roadside mobile fingerprinting
trials as part of the national Lantern project.
The technology is also set to be used by officers to help fight
crime in all areas, not just on the roads.
Ten forces around the UK will be taking part in the trial, which
relies on personal digital assistants being linked to national
fingerprint databases via GPRS mobile networks.
The project is being managed by the Police Information
Technology Organisation (PITO), and aims to speed the time it takes
for officers to confirm the identities of drivers at the
roadside.
Annual savings of more than £2.2m through time saved in pursuing
false identities have been forecast.
Currently, if an officer cannot be sure of a driver’s identity,
they may be taken to a police station to await confirmation.
Drivers will be asked to voluntarily place the index finger of
each hand on a PDA scanning device. The new system should provide
the officer with a possible fingerprint match within five
minutes.
At present, police say around 60% of drivers stopped do not give
their true identity.
Chris Wheeler, head of fingerprint identification at PITO, said,
“This pilot will help us explore the accuracy and capacity issues
around the device in a live scenario as part of work towards a
national solution.”
The pilot device was developed in conjunction with
Northamptonshire Police and PITO supplier Northrop Grumman.
The ten police forces taking part in the pilots are Bedfordshire
Police, British Transport Police, Essex Police, Hertfordshire
Constabulary, Lancashire Constabulary, Metropolitan Police Service,
North Wales Police, Northamptonshire Police, West Midlands Police
and West Yorkshire Police.
The pilot is scheduled for completion in December 2007.
The police say fingerprints taken from drivers will not be
stored, but this has not allayed the fears of civil liberties
campaigners.
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