NEC Australia deploys mobile fingerprint solution for South Australian Police

NEC Australia has announced the development and deployment of a mobile fingerprint solution for the South Australia Police.

This is the first time any Australian police force has implemented an identity management technology used on smartphone mobile devices.

With the new tool, SAPOL officers can biometrically verify the identity of people in the field. Previously, this was only possible at police stations.

In particular, the new handheld solution connects to Android devices via Bluetooth and comes with a custom-built NEC app that cross-references fingerprint data against Australia’s Crimtrac National Police Reference Database.

According to the company, SAPOL and NEC ran a trial deployment of 20 biometric scanners in late 2013. Having been deemed a success, the solution is now being fully deployed.

“The rollout and operation at this point has been a complete success. It’s helped the South Australia Police force identify a number of suspects with outstanding warrants, bail conditions and aided investigations into missing persons,” D’Wayne Mitchell, Director of Communications Solutions at NEC Australia said.

Though the cops now carry these devices in South Australia, there is no legislation to compel people to provide fingerprints.

Reported previously, NEC America recently announced that it has joined the IJIS Institute, a non-profit that focuses on mission-critical information sharing and safeguarding for homeland security.

Article Topics

fingerprint  |  law enforcement  |  mobile  |  NEC