Digital ID update for cops’, clergy’s traditional cards may also improve accountability

Global Accountability (GAC) and Sentry Enterprises say they will market an NFC business card in June that police officers can hand to members of the public.

The new card is scanned by the phone of someone interacting with an officer, which makes it less likely to be taken and misused by a criminal.

It has a Global Accountability near-field communications antenna and a QR code with which to share data with a witness, for example. Sentry is embedding its biometric authentication capabilities in the cards.

According to the companies, the technology will change how officers interact with citizens and improve ID verification.

(It is interesting to note that a similar setup now is in place in some Catholic churches of France. ID cards bearing QR codes let people know a priest’s rights to perform parish functions. The program was conceived in large part as a way to keep clergy accused of sexual assault away from potential victims.)

The companies say the GAC identity access-management product is designed to minimize conversation between an officer and a citizen, which they say will de-escalate interactions.

“We now have a product that will change the face of IAM forever while being universally accepted in a decentralized fashion,” says Jim Kinsey, CEO of Global Accountability.

Officers typically use business cards as part of their proof of identity and to give people incident numbers after an interaction. However, the practice makes it possible for people to pose as police.

Through a QR code snapshot, citizens will be able to capture an officer’s identification on their phones, access data about incidents and participate in surveys.

The IAM product is expected to enable supervisors to view performance analytics and reports about individual officers. It also tracks the times a member of the public accesses their profile, downloads an officer’s vcard or submits a survey.

In early 2022, Sentry raised $13 million in a series D funding round. The company said the money would go toward scaling its operations and investing in card maker X-Core Technologies‘ biometric identity platform.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  clergy  |  digital ID cards  |  identity access management (IAM)  |  identity verification  |  police