Posted on 03/22/2006 11:08:37 AM PST by Rebelbase
If you are stopped by police in Kansas, don’t be surprised if the officer pulls out a little black box and takes your fingerprints.
The gadget allows officers to identify people by fingerprints without hauling them to the police station.
Over the next year the Kansas Bureau of Investigation will test 60 of the devices with law enforcement agencies around the state. State officials said similar tests are being planned for New York, Milwaukee and Hawaii.
“This is definitely new,” said Gary Page, Overland Park Police Department crime lab. “It’s been talked about, but as far as I know they are not in use anywhere in the metro.”
The tests in Kansas are part of a bigger $3.6 million upgrade to the KBI’s statewide fingerprint database, unveiled Tuesday by the KBI and Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline.
■ The system:
Called the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System, it is a statewide database of more than 10 million fingerprints taken from people arrested in Kansas. The Missouri Highway Patrol maintains a similar database. Both systems link to the FBI fingerprint database.
■ How it works:
In Kansas, 54 law enforcement agencies have traded the ink-and-paper fingerprinting method for biometric imaging, which electronically scans a digital image of the print. Sixty Missouri agencies use biometric scanning. Police also can scan the fingers of corpses and people they arrest to match them against prints in the system. Results are obtained in seconds instead of hours. The inked cards still used by some smaller departments are also scanned into the statewide systems.
■ Why upgrade?
Kansas could no longer locate replacement parts or anyone to service the old system, which was launched in 1990 and upgraded in 1998. The first phase was funded with a $752,000 homeland security grant. The KBI is applying for similar grants to pay the balance. All upgrades should be completed by January 2007.
■ The portable devices:
Police place a person’s two index fingers on a screen. Wireless technology sends the image to the database for comparison. Prints scanned in the field will not be stored.
Welcome to the 21st century`where rapidly advancing technology makes it easier than ever for politicians to gradually create a police state without actually calling it that. But don't worry, I'm sure the officer will be friendly and personable so long as you comply without hesitance.
"Most of you disagree with this tactic, but I think it has value. Think of all the cold cases that could be solved and all the wanted scum walking around that can't reasonably be picked up otherwise."
It's for the children, right?
And we thank you.
Or even crimes like illegal invasion of the USA by land, sea and air, welfare fraud, medical fraud and other stuff.
10 million fingerprints translates in Kansan to 1 million people.........
Not bad for a state boasting a total population of about 2.2 million.
Yeah, we get a lot of riff-raff from Missouri.
That doesn't surprise me........( g )
Thank God...none of those Okie's darken the soil of KS.
FRegards,
.... You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant (except an Alice) ....
"And we thank you."
No, thank you! Someone has to live there, I suppose, and we wouldn't want everyone there to be Fred Phelps.
I guess I have a different take - it can be very beneficial as people have more and more options for fake identification. If an officer has any doubt about who you are, it can be a real convenience if you aren't wanted, and a real bummer if you are. I spent 24 years in the military, so my prints are on file. I also had to give prints for a carry permit. Unless I commit a crime, my prints are meaningless - I don't even wipe down hotel rooms when I travel on business and I use restaurant water glasses without gloves.
Note: there was no crime and very efficient law enforcement in a large European country between 1933 and 1945. Those attributes of a government should not be the standard by which conduct is measured.
Each of those 2.2 million people has approximately 10 fingers?
More efficient law enforcement, sure... but it is also leading us towards a government that can track your every move at all times, and that is not a good thing. I don't like it.
Do a keyword search using the term "Fourth Amendment" and read the thread about the 500 cameras in New York City. The opportunity for abuse with these kind of techniques is outrageous.
~ Blue Jays ~
Why is it so difficult for people to identify the slippery slope even after being painted an excellent picture like the one you just illustrated?
~ Blue Jays ~
I wish he was watching the border...
I have no idea. Numerous people on Free Republic point out the dangers of this sort of thing everytime a story is posted. The problem is that there is an equal number who thinks it's all OK, because you have nothing to fear if you've done nothing wrong.
And that's on a conservative discussion forum. Imagine how bad it is elsewhere. It's frightening.
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