Met cops get new pocket-sized fingerprint scanners
Mobile print-takers identify perps in seconds
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Met bobbies will soon be able to scan suspects' fingerprints on the street and pull up their records in seconds using internet-connected handheld gadgets.
London's top cops ordered 350 phone-size devices, which will be used to run identity checks on anyone believed to have committed an offence or potentially wanted for a crime.
The MobileID scanners will supplement the phone data slurpers rolled out earlier this week.
“One of the most powerful weapons criminals have is their ability to hide their true identity," Deputy Chief Constable Peter Goodman said. "With the advent of MobileID, this will become much more difficult, making our communities that much safer.”
The pocket tools allow officers to fingerprint a suspect while on the beat and identify the person in the police fingerprint database IDENT1 within two minutes. This turnaround time is contrast to the several hours consumed by detaining a suspect and taking them to a station for fingerprinting.
The fingerprint scanners
Sergeant Dean Else, of Westminster Borough, tested the tech last year and said today that the scanners improved Scotland Yard's relationship with the public:
MobileID improves the nature of our interactions with the public because it reduces the amount of time it takes to confirm an identity. At quickest it only takes thirty seconds to get a hit on the mobile device, which is efficient compared to carrying out longer traditional identity checks, often conducted back at the station.
The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) promised that the handheld scanners would bring in average saving of at least 60 minutes per case where used, and said it could be particularly helpful identifying unconscious or slain victims at a crime or accident scene.
The police said fingerprints scanned by MobileID kit are not retained after the check has been run.
Two dozen other police forces in England and Wales adopted the mobile scanners before the Met shelled out for the tech. The MobileID scanners, introduced last summer, are made by 3M Security Systems, a division of 3M Cogent which combines biometrics and broadband tech. ®
COMMENTS
Hold on . . .
. . . i'm under no obligation to even tell the police my true name and address until i'm arrested, taking someones fingerprints who *hasn't* been arrested smacks to me of a breach of fundamental human rights and the right to go about your business without undue harrassment.
You want my prints? Arrest me.
Re: Suspects Fingerprints.
Only weak-minded fools who break the law...have something to fear in this.
or anyone stupid enough to, for example, attend a democratic peaceful protest.
And frankly those people are all criminals anyway, right? Right?
Like the filthy terrorists who use cameras in London!
Is that what you mean?
Re: Hold on . . .
"The thing is they will arrest you. They have a catch-all form of words along the lines of
"You have been arrested in order to facilitate our investigation""
They can only arrest you on suspicion of having committed a particular offence, though they can usually come up with something catch-all if they have to.
Walking on the cracks in the pavement, Wearing a loud shirt in a built up area during the hours of darkness, Being in possession of an offensive wife, that sort of thing.
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