The New York City Police Department’s fingerprint database was temporarily brought down by a virus last year from a contractor’s computer, according to the New York Post. The contractor — who was at the police academy in Queens to set up a digital display — unknowingly uploaded a virus to 23 machines connected to the…
In a debate taking place this week, Portland, Maine, City Council is considering joining the growing list of U.S. cities that have banned the use of facial recognition technology. The only place in Portland currently known to be using the technology is the Portland Jetport, where it is used by the airlines JetBlue and Delta,…
A pair of senators from both sides of the political aisle have tabled a new bill that would place restrictions on the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement agencies. The Facial Recognition Technology Warrant Act — sponsored by Christopher Coons (D-Del.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — would require law enforcement agencies to obtain a warrant and…
The New York Police Department has finally finished deleting what was an illegal database of fingerprints obtained from juvenile offenders more than two years after being ordered to do so by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). Calls to delete the database originated in 2014 after an arrest of a youth…
Biometrics News – Fingerprint Recognition Two police forces in Wales have begun using INK Biometrics (Identity Not Known) in the field in a pilot project that will last three months before a review is conducted on its efficacy. South Wales Police and Gwent Police have deployed ten mobile devices to be shared between the two…
NEC Technologies India will be outfitting the Kerala State Police with a new automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS). The new tech is being rolled out through a partnership with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and will be available to law enforcement officers at more than 600 venues across the state. C-DAC…
Government authorities in Scotland have launched a public consultation on how police should handle biometric data, reports The Scotsman. It’s the product of an Independent Advisory Group on biometrics established earlier this year, which has concluded that there should be formal rules concerning how such data is collected, stored, and disposed of. The matter would…
Amazon’s own employees have now joined the chorus of voices calling for the company to halt its sale of biometric surveillance technology to law enforcement and other government agencies. Their demand has surfaced in an open letter to Jeff Bezos with an undisclosed number of signatories. The letter has arrived immediately after another open letter,…
Police authorities in the UK are being challenged over their use of public surveillance systems based on facial recognition technology. An organization called Big Brother Watch, working with politician Baroness Jenny Jones, has written letters to the heads of the Home Office and London’s Metropolitan Police Service asking them to either halt the use of…
A sheriff’s office in Minnesota may be compelled to publicly disclose how it uses biometric technology, depending on the outcome of a case before the state’s Supreme Court. The suit was first filed by Tony Webster, a web developer and researcher, in 2015, and is backed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a MuckRock campaign,…
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…
The Eaton County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan has started using mobile fingerprint scanners, reports WILX-10. The mobile scanners are linked to the Michigan Automated Fingerprint Identification System and the FBI’s national fingerprint database via police officers’ patrol car computers, allowing police to match against state and federal criminal records within minutes. And the deployment is…
Police in the US have successfully spoofed a murder victim’s fingerprints in order to gain access to his smartphone. It’s result of a collaboration recently initiated with Michigan State University biometrics researcher Dr. Anil Jain, one of the world’s most well-respected biometrics experts. Police believed that the murder victim’s Samsung Galaxy S6 may contain clues…
Turkey-based smart city solutions provider ekin Technology has announced a new kind of smart vehicle for law enforcement applications. Called ekin Patrol, it’s a police car equipped with a number of sensors enabling speed, license plate, and even face recognition. All of this detection occurs in real-time as the car patrols city streets. Together with its…
The Nordhordland District Court in Norway has ruled that police may compel a man to unlock his mobile device via fingerprint scan. The individual was arrested on drug possession charges near the end of January, and police believe his smartphone contains information related to where he obtained the illegal substance. The suspect has so far…
MorphoTrak, Morpho (Safran)’s American subsidiary, has been contracted to provide a major upgrade to the Albuquerque Police Department’s automated fingerprint identification system, the company has announced. Not only will the company implement its flagship MorphoBIS AFIS, but it has also been asked to introduce its latest platform, MorphoBIS in Morpho Cloud. Explaining the upgrade in a…
With Aadhaar leading the way, biometric time and attendance tracking continues its spread through India’s public sector. The district police office (DPO) of Virudhunagar state has announced that it has now implemented such a system for its own ministerial staff. It’s a move aimed at improving administrative efficiency and preventing potential timesheet fraud. Commenting on…
Morpho (Safran) has won a new contract to provide the Zambia Police Service with one of its flagship biometric platforms, the MorphoBIS Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). The deal outlines a long-term, comprehensive effort. Morpho is going to deploy both mobile scanners and live capture enrolment stations at the headquarters of various provincial authorities in…
The Albuquerque Police Department is now using facial recognition technology as an investigative tool. The APD says it has been looking into the possibilities of this technology for the past two years, and has now found a system strong enough to be put into use. It works by matching images of criminal suspects against a…