By Gary Anderson
Sunday Mirror
Essex, United Kingdom — Police are getting a new mobile phone gadget that reads fingerprints... so suspects can be instantly identified.
The new device has already led to the capture of at least one suspected murderer in trials with Essex police.
It consists of a small scanner which lets bobbies on the beat take fingerprints and compare them with a national database of criminals via a phone link. Now the equipment is being rolled out to 24 forces across the country.
The machine works with a BlackBerry mobile and is most commonly used to verify the identity of motorists stopped at the roadside.
But it is also used to check out people suspected of using false docu-ments. Officers get a response within two minutes.
PC Russell Gay, of Essex Police, said: “We have them to help aid the identification of people who may not have identity documents.
“One notable example quite recently was the use of the device to check the prints of someone who’d been involved in a public brawl. It transpired that he was in fact wanted for murder.”
The National Policing Improvement Agency, which provided the devices, says they save valuable time.
Without them, it takes an average 67 minutes before suspects are taken to a custody suite and have their fingerprints checked.
Police said the gadgets had also come in useful for identifying unconscious road crash victims.
Copyright 2012 MGN Ltd.