The Increase in Mobile Biometric Device Use by Law Enforcement Agencies

fingerprintOver 100 years ago, a French police officer named Alphonse Bertillon (April 24, 1853 – February 13, 1914) applied the anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement. Anthropometry was used for the purpose of understanding human physical variation and in various attempts to correlate physical with racial and psychological traits eventually becoming the first scientific system used by police to identify criminals. Fast forward to the twenty-first century, where law enforcement agencies have expanded the applications of identification technology and are now using biometrics to help accurately identify individuals and strengthen all aspects of citizen protection. In order to enhance individual identification accuracy and system security, biometrics has become a staple technology of today’s modern law enforcement agencies.

One of the ongoing concerns of law enforcement agencies that deploy biometrics for criminal ID is – how quickly can they accurately identify a suspect when they are in the field? How can they can be sure, without a shadow of a doubt, the suspect is who they claim to be? What if the suspect provides a false name, identification card, or fake driving license? In these cases mobile/portable biometric devices are handy tools for law enforcement agencies because of their ability to instantly capture biometric credentials and then quickly run a system check and receive an identity in a matter of seconds. Modern mobile biometric capture devices can now scan a suspect’s fingerprints, iris, or facial images, all from a single device.

Major areas where mobile biometric devices can be deployed:

Border Control – As illegal immigrants, drug trafficking, and human trafficking are increasing each day, it is now a vital issue for all nations to secure their borders and ensure safer governance and citizen protection. According to the Reporting Project, the Afghan-Pakistan border and Andean region are the main routes used for global drug trafficking. A recent state department report identified Iran, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and North Korea at the top of the list for global human trafficking.

How can mobile biometrics help to protect a nation’s borders? Mobile biometric devices can be used in border control checkpoints to enroll and check suspected individuals against the existent suspect list. A registered suspect could be recognized in the foreseeable future at a different check point to monitor and prevent the suspicious flow of individuals.

Military – To protect the country and destroy adversaries in unusual warfare, the Department of Defense requires a number of capabilities — counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, foreign internal defense along with stability procedures — that all depend on accurately identifying enemy combatants from innocent civilians. Identification of friend and foe is a vital issue for military personnel during active missions. Mobile biometric devices can be used not only to identify and capture suspects in the field but also to identify an agency’s own secret service agents.

Jail Management – There have been hundreds of cases of wrongly convicted death row inmates who did not commit a crime, with authorities discovering that they were actually innocent; on the opposite side there have also been many cases where violent thugs, sex offenders and drug fiends have been let out of jail because of mistaken identity, directly placing the public’s safety at risk. Authorities can adopt mobile biometric devices in prisons to accurately identify prisoners at intake and release to avoid such cases of mistaken identity. 

Conclusion

Today’s modern mobile biometric devices are capable of capturing quality iris and fingerprint images as well as standard facial images to create suspect profiles. These devices are rugged, lightweight, easy to use, and some are so ergonomically innovative, they can even fit in your pocket. Mobile biometric devices are equipped with multimodal capabilities are generally very user friendly, operate by plug & play , and contain instantly deployable features rendering them  among the most powerful tools ever developed for biometric identification. What is your opinion about the rise of mobile biometric devices by law enforcement? Are they a necessary technology in today’s world to protect us? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Guest article written by: Ekhlas Uddin Jewel is the Sr. Executive – SEO/SEM/PPC in M2SYS Technology, a recognized industry leader in biometric identity management technology. M2SYS continues to innovate, build and bring to market leading-edge biometrics solutions that revolutionize the industry and expand the applicability of biometrics technology in the marketplace.

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