Police get national biometric palm print database

A new software tool will allow police forces in England and Wales to search a national biometric database of palm prints collected at crime scenes by forensics investigators.

Palm prints, which police claim can account for a fifth of all crime scene marks, have been collected by forensics officers for more than two years but it is only now that they can be automatically searched for matches against a national database.

The palm print database is an extension of the Ident1 biometric technology platform developed by the Police IT Organisation (Pito) to replace the national fingerprint database. Pito says Ident1 will provide a "strategic platform for future biometric capabilities and a wider range of identification services".

Some of the police forces already using the palm print searching tool include Northamptonshire Police and Humberside Police, which says it has found 20 matches since starting to use the system this month.

Richard Gallagher, head of the fingerprint bureau at Humberside, said in a statement: "We would not have been able to achieve these matches without the new palms tool as we did not have the associated finger[print] marks to go on in each case."

Fred Preston, director of identification at Pito, said the "state-of-the-art" tools will help police forces tackle the daily business of solving crime.