REAL LIFE NEWS: LONDON POLICE DEVELOP PORTABLE FINGERPRINT SCANNER
by Hazed
The Metropolitan Police Service in London has developed its own mobile fingerprint device. Using an Android phone connected to a fingerprint scanner and using software developed in-house, the device will check police and immigration databases and confirm the identity of suspects within 60 seconds – assuming they are known to the police. The force plans to roll out 600 new devices to its officers.
The Met’s press release (see link below) touts the benefits of this technology as something that will save the time of officers, who won’t have to take suspects back to the police station to get their prints checked. This will also save money.
It says the technology will only be used where there is legal cause, and gives the example of police stopping a driver for a traffic offence who has no documents on him. If they can confirm his identity he can be issued a summons right away rather than being arrested and taken to a police station. Of course, that depends on his prints being in the database.
This all sounds very positive. But police forces in general are notorious for “mission creep” where they find new uses for a technology that push the boundaries of what they are allowed to do by law. How’s this for a scenario: police stop somebody for whatever reason (legitimate or not) and the person does have ID on them. Nevertheless, the police take their fingerprints, and run their checks. No matches are found – but now those prints are in the police database, linked to the person’s identity. I am sure the authorities would be delighted to see the database extended to include prints of all citizens – just for our protection, you understand. After all, if you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear!
Source: http://news.met.police.uk/news/met-develops-mobile-fingerprint-device-to-save-time-and-public-money-317200
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/15/met_police_mobile_fingerprint_scanners_600_by_2019/
