Giving the finger to police officers in Los Angeles County can get you in more trouble than ever these days, thanks to a new technology called BlueCheck that checks for outstanding warrants on suspected criminals in minutes via a cell-phone sized fingerprint reader.
The portable fingerprint scanner allows police to identify subjects quickly. Without it, officers must ask a series of questions and hope for the truth when encountering a shady character without ID who gives a potentially fake name.
Usually these individuals are freed from custody, allowing countless wanted felons to walk unbeknownst to officers. But with BlueCheck, police officers believe they will make more arrests on those with outstanding warrants and on charges of giving false information to officers.
The portable fingerprint reader uses Bluetooth technology to send prints to a laptop computer in the officer’s patrol car. The satellite-connected computer then sends the prints over the Internet and checks them against a county database. If the suspect has ever been arrested in the county, the reader blinks and the suspect’s real name, birth date and criminal history appear.
There are limitations of the technology, however. At the moment, police can only search a county database. Thus, the device cannot indicate a person was arrested and booked outside of Los Angelos County.
California agencies are discussing a long-term plan to create a comprehensive database of fingerprints, but the state's multi-billion dollar budget deficit will likely delay any such initiative.
The first order of 500 BlueChecks were distributed to departments throughout LA county six months ago, and officials are ordering 1,000 more that should be in officers hands within five months. The devices cost $750 each and are sold by Cogent Systems, which specializes in bulkier, non-portable fingerprinting systems such as those used by the US Department of Homeland Security.
A Cogent spokesman says that while the non-portable systems remain their major business, the new portable reader is attracting a lot of attention worldwide.
While the convenience of these devices has elated police, the American Civil Liberties Union is not comfortable with the technology yet. They fear it will be used to collect and record fingerprints rather than just check them. The ACLU of Southern California position is that fingerprints should not be collected under any situations other than those that the Penal Code authorizes, which is when people are arrested or cited.
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