UK - New device to take fingerprints in streets

The new technology, which may ultimately be able to receive pictures of suspects, is most likely to be in widespread use within 18 months in the UK. Tens of thousands of sets - as small as BlackBerry smartphones - are expected to be distributed. To address fears about mass surveillance and random searches, the police insist that fingerprints taken by the scanners will not be stored in, or added to databases. The first phase of the 'Mobile Identification At Scene' (Midas) project, costing £30m-£40m, will enable police officers to perform rapid checks on the fingerprints of people arrested or detained. The marks will be compared against records on Ident1, the national police database which holds information on 7.5 million individuals. A senior technology officer with the NPIA, told the Biometrics 2008 conference that Project Midas would save enormous amounts of police time and reduce the number of wrongful arrests.

Source: www.new-technology-world.com