Pleasantville Strategic Planning and Revitalization Committee

Austin police to debut mobile fingerprint scanners

Feb 21, 2009

Austin police to debut mobile fingerprint scanners

By Tony Plohetski | Thursday, February 12, 2009, 01:31 PM

Before Austin police officers click the handcuffs on certain suspects, they may soon begin making a request that could save them a trip to jail: provide a roadside fingerprint sample.

About 100 police officers will soon begin using mobile fingerprint scanners to help identify suspects in crimes that could range from traffic offenses in cases when motorists do not have valid identifications to felonies.

?“It is new technology, certainly for us here in Austin,?” Assistant Police Chief Al Eells said. ?“We really want to see how the devices are used and their value in terms of what we are doing here.?”

Law enforcement officials nationally have praised such scanners, saying that are more easily and quickly able to identify suspects. However, some civil libertarians have raised concerns about their use, particularly whether officers are requiring people to provide fingerprint samples before they are arrested.

Austin police will be among about 100 police agencies in the nation using the BlueCheck devices by Cogent Systems, a Pasadena, Calif., company that has contracts with law enforcement agencies across the nation and with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Austin officials said those from Houston, Arlington and Fort Worth have recently contacted them to learn more about the devices.

Austin police are purchasing the first group of scanners, which sell for about $1,000 each, from a federal grant aimed at decreasing violent crime in specific areas of the city. They will debut them in Northeast, North-Central and South-Central Austin, but could eventually expand their use citywide, Eells said.

The equipment will allow Austin officers to scan suspects?’ fingerprints, then send them to a regional database made up of nearly 1 million previously arrested people, among others. Officers will receive any information about suspects on patrol car computers if a match is found.