Police could hold fingerprints in palm of their hand

A police officer holds a portable finger print analyser at the launch of the device.
A police officer holds a portable finger print analyser at the launch of the device. Photgraph: Chris Radburn/PA

Traffic officers today began piloting a hand-held fingerprint reader which they believe will dramatically reduce the time it takes to identify suspects stopped by police.

Bedfordshire police is the first force to test the device, which will allow officers at the roadside to search through a 6.5m fingerprint database in under five minutes. Police say that up to 60% of people stopped by traffic police fail to give their true identity.

The pilot scheme, known as Lantern, will cut down the time used taking suspect drivers for formal fingerprint identification at police stations saving £2.2m, officers said.

Ten forces will participate in the scheme, managed by the Police Information Technology Organisation.

The device works by electronically scanning the subject's index fingers and sending the images using encrypted wireless transmissions, to the central fingerprint database.

"This trial represents an important step forward in our commitment to ensuring we have an effective and efficient police service fully equipped for the challenges of modern policing," said the police minister, Tony McNulty.

"The new technology will speed up the time it takes for police to identify individuals at the roadside, enabling them to spend more time on the frontline and reducing any inconvenience for innocent members of the public. It will also act as a visible deterrent, reducing fear of crime and making criminals less mobile."

Chief Superintendent Nicky Dahl of Bedfordshire police, said he was "delighted" to have the new kit.

"If you can quickly establish someone's identity it means that officers are safer, fewer criminals can evade justice, innocent members of the public are less inconvenienced and police can spend more time out on patrol without having to make frequent trips back in to the main police stations," he said.

Fingerprinting has been the dominant technology used in confirming suspects' identity for over a century. The UK's first fingerprint bureau was founded at Scotland Yard in 1901, with the help of Indian experts who had established one in Calcutta five years earlier. The forensic discipline of fingerprinting continues to outperform all other human identification systems, including DNA, in identifying murderers, rapists and other serious offenders.

Fingerprints can only be taken from the public voluntarily using the Lantern system because the law will have to be changed before officers can force people to give prints on the street.

The Lantern scheme has raised fears among some civil liberties organisations. Mark Wallace, of the Freedom Association told BBC Radio Five Live that he had "concerns".

"I don't think we should be reassured by the fact that at the moment it's voluntary and at the moment they won't be recorded," he said. "Both of those things are actually only happening in the trial because the laws haven't been passed to do this on a national basis compulsorily and with recording."

The rights group Liberty, however, said mobile fingerprinting "did not set off any alarm bells".

"Police will have to use the same criteria before they can take anyone's fingerprints as they do now," a Liberty spokeswoman said.

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