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West Midlands police are now able to ID crime suspects on the street after hi-tech fingerprint devices have been rolled out across the force.

The scanners are satellite linked to the national fingerprint database and will instantly alert officers if the scanned prints belong to a convicted criminal. Officers will then be able to cross reference the information against the Police National Computer to find out if the person is wanted by the police or courts.

It is incredibly important that police officers using this technology have reasonable suspicion that an individual has committed a crime before they are stopped. This appears to be an extension of stop and search powers already held by police officers and it is a cause for concern that this could lead to an increase in innocent individuals being stopped by police.

There is little difference between the use of this mobile technology and the use of ID cards. The latter proved to be so unpopular with the general public that the Coalition Government scrapped the plans. Only time will tell whether the same fate awaits the mobile fingerprint scanners.

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Emma Carr Posted in Biometrics, Civil Liberties, ID cards, Police
  • zeke

    Just another example of our country’s police state techniques. The assumption of innocence and the freedom to go about one’s lawful business in privacy have been eroded out of existence in the UK.

  • Jimmy Dingle

    exactly how can this be acceptable? who is it that gives permissions for this? in what way is any of the police set up accountable and to whom???? the creep creep has become a fucking big flood and nobody cares …… ??????

  • Guest

    So much for rolling back the damage that NuLiebour did. Yeah the sooner we boot this David Moron out of No.10 the better!

    • Phil Croft

      Worryingly, I’ve come to the conclusion that it no longer matters WHO is in the driving seat–the bloody bus is always heading in the same direction, over the effing cliffe.

  • faustiesblog

    Unfortunately, it goes much further than that, Emma. Read Naomi Wolf’s latest article (which first appeared in the Guardian):

    http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-new-totalitarianism-of-by-Naomi-Wolf-120815-568.html

    Given that Facebook has been caught using facial recognition software and flogging the results to interested parties – such as governments and corporations, it seems the war on privacy has begun in earnest.

    Recall, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google were all attendees at the most recent Bilderberg conference.

    It’s called “convergence”. The UN is in charge.

  • david

    This is not new technology in the UK, it has been available in some custody blocks for awhile (including the West Midlands). OK maybe a different issue for persons arrested. It is a fact that people when stopped can use false details, sometimes with a rehearsed identity. In West Yorkshire a few years ago one in eight drivers stopped gave false details – they were then using cameras to record the person stopped.

    This IT application can stop innocent people’s details being used, mainly by those driving without a licence (banned) etc. Yes it would be interesting to see what the West Midlands Police operational order is – FOI needed?

  • Innocent

    If you are innocent, you have nothing to fear as the fingerprint device will report back that you have no criminal record. Who is “David Moron”? If the reference is to our Prime Minister, how about showing respect? And do we need Jimmy Dingle to use foul language and do we have to see it? Keep it clean, please!

    • Phil Croft

      It’s pathetic MORONS like you who, ( maybe inadvertently) ,act like agent provocateurs, with your simplistic view of this dangerous world that’s being created around us. The all too common ‘no crimminal record–nothing to worry about’ delusion, is an attitude that beggars belief. There is a ( currently) barely visible electronic fence being drawn around us, and the world portrayed by that frighteningly portentious TV series of a couple of years ago. ‘The Last Enemy’ is not far away. For a glimpse of YOUR future, check it out.

  • Gt4Pete

    I got my false/unproved allegations removed” one of the people making the false allegations was on police bail for trying to stab a police officer and drug offences. Why does the Criminal Records Bureau accept appeal letters from the police without a name or collar number from them in the first place…?

  • Phil Croft

    Who the HELL gave them the random permission to do this?? was it discussed and voted on by the government? It seems like individual ‘FORCES’ make their own anti-crimminal laws up. Just as worrying is the criterea/ justification for use, of this assault on personal freedom—’if you are SUSPECTED of being a criminal, WTF ? We all know about the ‘FORCES’ interpretation/ abuse of the ‘ anti-terrorism bill’ etc etc. Once these lax standards are allowed to proliferate without strong challenge, we will be at the mercy of future more controlling ‘measures’. It’s all for the general good of society you know–B****X.

  • jerrynoriss

    This measure is all about saving police time, providing a more cost-effective alternative to making arrests.
    http://www.instantcard.net/police/