Mobile Fingerprint Technology

Approximately 80 percent of persons responsible for officer deaths between 1996 and 2005 had been arrested previously and almost 18 percent had previously assaulted officers or resisted arrest, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 2006. A mobile fingerprinting device that officers can use on the spot to learn a suspect's history may help them know whether a suspect is likely to resist arrest.

In 1999, NIJ funded the development of the Integrated Biometric Identification System (known as IBIS), a device that allowed patrol officers to capture fingerprints and submit them for identity check against their local fingerprint identification system. The device was large, weighed 5 pounds, cost $6,000, and returned search results in 2 to 3 minutes.

Since then, the technology has advanced. More recent advances have produced the BlueCheck™ device. BlueCheck is smaller than a cell phone, weighs 3 ounces, costs $1,500, and generates a fingerprint search in less than a minute, using Bluetooth® technology to send fingerprint data from the device to the computer in the officer's patrol car.

The San Joaquin County (CA) Sheriff's Department began testing BlueCheck in 2006. Within a week, they arrested more than 12 parolees with outstanding warrants.

NIJ has provided funds for other police departments in Ontario, California, Hollywood, Minnesota, and Hennepin County, Minnesota, to buy and test these products. Their success has inspired several companies to begin manufacturing and selling similar mobile fingerprinting devices.