UK Police begin mobile fingerprinting

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

* Big Brother and The Police State

UK Police begin mobile fingerprinting*

By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:49pm GMT 22/11/2006

Motorists have for the first time faced roadside fingerprint checks as
police begin testing a device aimed at identifying criminal suspects.

Fingerprinting

A positive ID can be given within five minutes

Officers are participating in Project Lantern, a pilot scheme in which
patrols are given instant access to 6.5 million prints stored on the
National Automated Fingerprint System.

Drivers stopped in Luton, Bedfordshire, are invited to have their
fingerprints scanned on a hand-held device.

If the motorist is on the database, a positive identification can be
given within five minutes. At the moment, however, they cannot be
compelled to co-operate.

Tony McNulty, a Home Office minister, said the machine will save the
police time and an estimated £2.2 million a year.

"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 front-line and reducing any inconvenience for innocent members of
the public," he said.

The increased surveillance of motorists reflects ministers' belief that
offenders, such as uninsured drivers, can be involved in more serious
criminal behaviour.

The fingerprinting project is being run by the Home Office's Police
Information Technology Organisation (Pito). Bedfordshire Police is the
first of a number of forces to participate in the scheme.

Over the next two months it will be rolled out to the Metropolitan
Police, British Transport Police and forces in Essex, Hertfordshire,
Lancashire, North Wales, Northamptonshire, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.

The move will alarm civil liberties groups who are concerned about the
increasing monitoring of the public.

Motorists' movements are already closely monitored by cameras which can
not only detect how fast a car is going but also identify the vehicle
and owner from its number plate as well as checking whether the driver
is insured.