Idemia biometric technology powers background check kiosks deployed by US BIA

The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Anadarko Agency has deployed biometric kiosks powered by Idemia for the Tribal Access Program (TAP) to ensure the safety of children in foster care with robust background checks.

The Native American Children’s Safety of 2016 (NACSA) mandates fingerprint-based checks against national crime databases, as well as tribal and state abuse and neglect directories for all adults in a home where a Tribe is considering placing a child for foster care, and the Anadarko Agency is the first of BIA’s 28 agencies to make the TAP kiosk operational.

In a bureau announcement, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Katuk Sweeney praised the Anadarko Agency for its leadership, which gives BIA-Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) law enforcement personnel access to the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Service (CJIS).

“We appreciate Assistant Secretary Sweeney and BIA-OJS for making this vital background investigation resource available for our social services programs and tribal social service programs,” comments BIA-Office of Indian Services Director Spike Bighorn. “Social workers know firsthand the great importance of quickly placing children in need of our intervention into safe homes and this technology will help us accomplish that for the Native children that we serve and protect.”

Idemia Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Product Management Teresa Wu revealed the company as the biometric technology provider for the kiosks in a Tweet.

Seven tribal groups will have access to TAP kiosks at BIA Anadarko Agency, with two additional BIA social service locations expected to install them within the next year. TAP kiosks are also expected to go live for the BIA-Office of Indian Services (BIA-OIS) at the Fort Peck Agency in 2020. The TAP system was significantly expanded in October, 2018.

Background checks appear to be a growth area for the biometrics industry, with companies such as Telos ID and First Advantage making recent announcements.

Article Topics

background checks  |  biometrics  |  criminal ID  |  FBI  |  fingerprint readers  |  IDEMIA  |  identity verification  |  U.S. Government