Police crackdown to see drivers fingerprinted

Police forces are using handheld computers to run roadside fingerprint tests to crack down on rogue motorists who provide fake identities.

Bedfordshire Police is the first of 10 forces to start fingerprint identity checks at the roadside as part of a national project called Lantern. It's the second high tech police trial announced this week - earlier it was revealed that officers will be trialling helmet-mounted digital cameras.

silicon.com's A to Z of Biometrics

Click on the links below to find out everything you'll need to know about biometric security.

A is for Accuracy
B is for Behavioural biometric
C is for Cash machine
D is for Database
E is for Ear
F is for Facial recognition
G is for Gummi bears
H is for Hand geometry
I is for Iris
J is for Juan Vucetich
K is for Keystroke dynamics
L is for Liveness testing
M is for Mobile phones
N is for Network security
O is for Oxford
P is for Palm
Q is for Queues
R is for Registration
S is for Signature verification
T is for Twins
U is for Universality
V is for Voice verification
W is for Walk
X is for X-ray
Y is for Young
Z is for Zurich Airport

The trial will allow immediate checking of fingerprints against the national fingerprint database known as Idnet1.

Forces calculate they can save £2.2m per year by eliminating the need to take suspects back to the station to have them fingerprinted - plus another £1.6m in extra revenue from Fixed Penalty Notices (on the spot fines for minor offences).

Bedfordshire's mobile fingerprint device piloting is being carried out by its automatic number plate recognition team.

When a suspect vehicle is stopped, police need to identify the driver and at the moment 60 per cent of drivers stopped do not give their true identity.

The Lantern device works by scanning the subject's index fingers. The data is sent using encrypted wireless transmissions to the central fingerprint database, where the print is run against the 6.5 million in the collection in less than five minutes.

Nicky Dahl, chief superintendent of Bedfordshire Police force, said if officers can quickly establish a driver's identity it means they can spend more time out on patrol without having to make frequent trips back in to the main police stations.

The pilot is scheduled for completion in December 2007 and will help explore accuracy and capacity issues ahead of any national rollout.

Northrop Grumman and Sagem will be supplying the handheld devices and search capability being used in the pilot, while Cable & Wireless will provide encryption and connectivity.