Fingerprinting on the Spot
Kansas officials are working to improve road safety. In December, police officers will be able to demand on-the-spot fingerprint scans using portable devices, but only under limited circumstances.
“If you’re pulled over for speeding, the law does not allow me to take your fingerprint,” says Phill Kline, Kansas attorney general. “If you’re wanted or a fugitive, then I can arrest you because there’s a bench warrant. Then we take fingerprints to ensure identification, that you are the person who is wanted.”
He says the same rules would apply to the mobile scanners.
Kansas law requires police to take fingerprints from people arrested under a list of circumstances, including felonies, higher-level misdemeanors such as assault or drunken driving and possession of stolen property or instruments associated with crime, such as burglary tools.
Kline adds that the mobile fingerprint scanners will allow police to determine whether a suspect is wanted by another jurisdiction. The procedure also can clear up situations of mistaken identity. The gadgets also could help identify corpses or missing persons found without identification.
“The scanners provide the ability to establish identity in field situations,” says David Sim, special agent in charge of records section of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. “The scanner reads your finger and sends it back to the host Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the host AFIS sends back a match.“
Unlike fingerprints taken at a police station, any prints scanned with the mobile units would be used for immediate identification and would not be stored in the state’s larger fingerprint database. The scanner, Rapid Identification Terminal (RapID), is manufactured by Sagem Morpho Inc., Tacoma, Wash. The black handheld device uses biometric technology to make an electronic scan of a person’s index finger and compares the prints against the larger state database.
The one-to-many fingerprint identification product features wireless connection to an AFIS database, a forensic-quality optical fingerprint sensor and wireless communications (WiFi; Cellular). “AFIS allows the computer to compare fingerprints and identify criminals with the database,” says Kyle Smith, deputy director for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. “That is a major asset to public safety. Palm prints can also be used.”
The device is rugged for a hostile environment, provides full-shift operation on a single charge, PDA-based technology and an open application platform. It can access a local wanted-list search of up to 100,000 subjects. It also features on-board AFIS-quality algorithms and high-definition color display.
Smith explains Kansas law does not allow officers to use the scanners for the minor infractions involved in most traffic stops. “It does not change the law on when we can take fingerprints,” Smith says. “It’s not going to change the rules any.”
The mobile fingerprint scanners were a part of a $3.6 million upgrade to Kansas’ Automatic Fingerprint Identification System, which stores more than 10 million prints taken from people arrested throughout the state. A similar database exists in Missouri. Both link to a fingerprint system at the FBI.
Other upgrades to the Kansas system include the ability to analyze palm prints, which is not possible with the current technology. The new system also will store mug shots and pictures of tattoos, scars and other identifying marks. Results can be obtained in seconds. About 60 scanners will be field-tested in Kansas over the next year.
Several law enforcement agencies in Missouri and Kansas use larger biometric scanners to take and store full sets of fingerprints from people they arrest. The Kansas field tests will be the first time that technology will be transferred to the patrol car. Information about Kansas’ fingerprinting laws can be found on the Kansas Legislature’s Web site, www.kslegislature.org. For more information about Sagem Morpho Inc., visit the company’s Web site, www.morpho.com.
