Baltimore police to purchase Booz Allen Hamilton portable fingerprint devices

The Baltimore police force will purchase five portable biometric fingerprint devices to help crime scene technicians to better solve criminal cases, according to a report by The Baltimore Sun.

At a Board of Estimates meeting held on Wednesday, the city approved the $30,000 purchase of five Booz Allen Hamilton VAMPIRE tactical forensic devices through a sole-source contract from Information Technology Solutions. The devices will be purchased using federal grant funds.

Booz Allen first introduced the portable biometric device in October, which enables law enforcement and the military to conduct immediate fingerprint analysis at an incident scene.

Steven O’Dell, director of the Baltimore City Police Department Crime Laboratory, said the devices can store the fingerprints of hundreds of known offenders in Baltimore to check for leads at a crime scene.

The Vampire devices will also help to quickly eliminate a property owner’s fingerprints from an investigation, said O’Dell.

“What this device is capable of is improving our real-time intelligence,” O’Dell said. “The faster you get your prints inspected, the more likely you are to solve a crime. We’re excited about it.”

The handheld device could help solve burglaries, thefts, robberies and other crimes, faster, said O’Dell.

If the biometric devices prove to be successful, the city will consider purchasing more units, said O’Dell.

Previously reported, Integrated Biometrics announced that its mobile ID fingerprint sensor Sherlock has been integrated into Booz Allen Hamilton’s VAMPIRE tactical forensic device to conduct real-time forensic collection and analysis in field.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Booz Allen  |  fingerprint recognition  |  mobile identity credentialing  |  police