The Home Office is
to spend £30m-£40m on a mobile biometric identification service
that will use fingerprint information to identify people at the
scene of incidents, in real or near real time.
The project, known as Midas, follows on from a mobile
identification pilot using fingerprinting technology.
The government envisages a maximum of 10 suppliers of the
technology in a contract that will last four years with the
possibility of being extended a further two years.
An earlier scheme,
Project Lantern, used a hand-held fingerprint device for police
officers to check a person's identity at the scene of an
incident.
It allowed police to check images of the subject's index
fingerprints against a national database of 7.5 million prints.
Results would usually be returned within a couple of minutes.
Estimates after the launch of Lantern suggested that police
would have a nationwide mobile fingerprint system by 2010. It is
likely an open market will be established for development of the
device, providing a choice of equipment for forces.
Police have successfully used the technology for identifying
disqualified drivers presenting false identification.
Lantern was first launched in November 2006, when 100 Lantern
devices were deployed in 10 police forces.
It was expanded in March this year with an additional 100
deployed in a further 10 forces. Ninety per cent of officers
believed the device saved at least 30 minutes per incident,
according to a survey carried out after Lantern's launch.
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