Researchers from the University of Nottingham and the University of Derby have developed a new technique for reading fingerprints left on metal surfaces like guns and knives. The method uses Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy, and creates high-resolution images that are so accurate that researchers were able to see individual sweat pores up to 26…
As the biometrics landscape continues to evolve, various next generation authentication modalities are emerging to better best serve the specific security and convenience needs of relying parties. Among these new modalities is gesture biometrics, like those offered by Biometric Signature ID, a leader in this new frontier of identity and authentication. Susan Stover, Director of…
“The issue reflects the evolving regulatory framework in place in the UK concerning how government authorities may use biometrics and related technologies.” Police in the UK are scrambling to get their forensics labs up to snuff in the wake of a statement from the country’s forensics regulator indicating that over 90 percent of the UK’s…
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers are working on a new approach to DNA matching that could enhance the capabilities of forensic investigators. Jointly funded by NIST and the FBI, the research is aimed at moving beyond DNA profiling based on short tandem repeats, or STRs. This refers to a practice in which analysts…
Smearing Play-Doh over store products’ security tags does not disable them and can only get you into trouble. That’s the takeaway from a recent investigation of attempted thefts in a Walmart in Leicester, Massachusetts. The real problem with the Play-Doh strategy, in addition to its ineffectiveness, is that the putty can retain fingerprints. That’s how…
In what may be a world’s first, police in Wales have used fingerprint biometrics collected from a WhatsApp picture of a hand holding drugs to help bust up a dealing operation, reports BBC News. The dealers appear to have been using the messaging app as an important component of their operation, taking advantage of the…
“It’s a small-scale example of the broader law enforcement community’s increasing reliance on biometrics in criminal investigations…” A single fingerprint helped to stop a crime spree in the small town of Ajax, Ontario, reports CP24. The crime spree involved a series of gunpoint robberies and carjackings over the course of October and November in the…
“…the subject’s fingerprint inherently links that individual to the molecular sample, helping to ensure that the test results are accurately ascribed to the right person.” An experimental new drug test combines biometrics and biophysics to determine whether a subject has recently used cocaine. The method was developed by researchers at the University of Surrey in…
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)’s Nail-to-Nail Fingerprint Challenge is coming to its final stretch, and Crossmatch, ISORG, and FlexEnable are among the finalists. IARPA announced the Challenge early this year, seeking to find an automated solution for capturing entire fingerprints, nailbed to nailbed, as the standard methodology requires a human operator. Crossmatch, France-based…
Scientists with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Michigan State University say they have engineered a new algorithm that could eliminate the need for humans to perform a key step in fingerprint analysis, and thereby reduce human error in forensic investigations. The algorithm tackles the first step in an investigation of latent fingerprints…
The Department of Defense is going to be making some changes to its approach to biometric and forensic capabilities, including a new focus on tradeoffs in making decisions about contract wins. That’s one key takeaway from a recent Government Accountability Office report entitled “DoD Biometrics and Forensics: Progress Made in Establishing Long-term Deployable Capabilities, but Further…
Innovatrics has launched a new software tool, called Latent Editor, that could be a great aid in forensic investigations. It’s designed to let users edit and enhance latent fingerprint images. It has an automatic minutiae detection feature, and a ‘smart separation’ function designed to let users separate overlapping fingerprints. And it can be used with…
In partnership with STC Group and SITE Technology, the American University of Science & Technology (AUST) has opened a new biometric forensics laboratory in Lebanon. The lab opened with introductory lectures and workshops led by representatives from STC, which offers biometric technology, specializing particularly in the area of voice biometrics. And the company says that…
The law enforcement biometrics market is large and only growing in scope when it comes to areas of application. Advances in connectivity, mobility, secure cloud technology, middleware and of course biometric capture technology are leading to massive innovations for government agencies concerned with justice. Wearable tech, connected cars and more are all on their way to…
JLG Technologies has announced an upgraded voice recognition technology aimed at giving correctional investigators an innovative surveillance tool. Investigator Pro 4.0 allows users to select a given voice sample from a call recording, and then to search other calls for that same voice. In a statement announcing the system, JLG Technologies COO Michael Kester called…
Biometric technology has helped Hawaiian police to push ahead on a cold case dating back to 2003, allowing them to identify the victim of a suspected homicide almost 13 years after the crime. The body of a man in his later 40s was discovered near a roadside with signs of blunt force trauma to his…
A new Android-based solution could prove to be a big help to coroners and medical examiners. Called FingerSCAN DecedentID, the system is aimed at offering speedy identification of the deceased. Developed by WoVo Identity Soltuions, it’s based on Integrated Biometrics’ Watson Mini fingerprint scanner, and WoVo says it can be used with commercial off-the-shelf Android…
Everyone emits a cloud of microbes unique enough to act as a kind of personal fingerprint, according to new research from the University of Oregon’s Biology and the Built Environment Center. The researchers have just published their findings in the PeerJ academic journal. Led by postdoctoral researcher James F. Meadow, the team conducted an experiment…