Digital Fingerprints Make The Case
Police in Holliston, Mass., have begun to use a system that digitally captures a suspect’s fingerprints and sends the images to be checked against state and national fingerprint databases.
The $22,000 ID 500 system was developed by Cross Match Technologies of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The machine is a small gray box that is hooked up to a laptop, and contains a scanner that shines a green light which illuminates the subject’s fingers as they are pressed down and rolled onto clear silicone pads.
The system’s computer software then checks each print for quality before the operator captures the fingerprint. The prints are then sent to the databases to search for a match.
The system proved valuable to the Holliston Police Department within days of its installation, when an alleged drunk driver tried to pass himself off as someone else in order to hide two prior drunk driving convictions. However, the man’s true identity was discovered when the prints taken with the ID 500 were sent to databases kept by the Massachusetts State Police and the FBI.
“We never would have known, because we wouldn’t have any other way of knowing,” said Holliston Police Lt. Keith Edison.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Boston Globe (08/11/05) P. 9; Rosinski, Jennifer .
