posted 04-27-2003 04:46 PM            

Police Get Power to Check Prints On The Spot
04/11/2003
http://www.policeone.com/policeone/frontend/parser.cfm?object=News&operation=full_news&id=61781

Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian

Portland police may soon be asking for more than a license when making a traffic stop, but also requesting a motorist to stick out a thumb and forefinger.

Next month, more than a dozen officers will carry handheld devices on the street that will allow them to instantly verify a person's identity by analyzing their fingerprints.

The Portland Police Bureau was awarded a $250,000 federal COPS grant to equip each of its five precincts with a device and distribute another 10 to investigative officers in the detective, gang enforcement, drugs and vice, and tactical operations divisions.

The Minnesota-based Identix manufactures the technology, which captures fingerprints at the scene and remotely transmits them to a database. The Portland police will run the prints against the FBI's automated fingerprint database, and a database of seven Western states, known as the Western Identification Network.

If there is a match, the system returns the person's name, date of birth and mug shot directly to the officer's handheld terminal, the size of a Palm Pilot. Then the officer can check the person's criminal history and search for any outstanding warrants.

Manufacturers and police tout the time it could save officers, keeping them from needlessly transporting suspects to a police precinct or jail to fingerprint them.

"With shrinking budgets and shrinking staff, we need to capitalize on emerging technology," said Capt. Greg Hendricks, of the bureau's identification division.

Within a year, the bureau intends to expand the pilot purchase of 15 to more than 300 terminals for all patrol officers, under $650,000 set aside for the Portland police by the U.S. Department of Justice and recently approved by Congress.

The devices will also give officers on horseback, bicycles and motorcycles, who do not have the mobile computer terminals that patrol officers have at their fingertips, the ability to access information on people they stop.

"It speeds up the process for the officer to confirm who they've stopped, and reduces mistaken identities on arrests," said Sgt. Jeff Kaer of the bureau's identification division.

Next week, the bureau has invited representatives from 15 police agencies, sheriff's offices and federal law enforcement in the metropolitan area to learn about the handheld fingerprinting device and gauge if there's interest in integrating them into a regional database that could give officers in the field immediate access to criminal histories on suspects in a four-county region. The counties include Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas and Clark.

"If we integrated this system regionally, all of the agencies could share information with each other," Kaer said. "As you know, crime doesn't stop at the city line."

The City Council is expected to approve the bureau's contract with Identix at its meeting next week.

The same handheld device is also capable of facial recognition, a an emerging technology now used by a number of law enforcement agencies to find wanted criminals whose faces are in databases. Border patrol agencies have used the facial-recognition component to run the faces of people coming into the country against a database of photos of suspected terrorists.

posted 04-27-2003 08:21 PM            

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 4 STATES.....

"THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO BE SECURE IN THEIR PERSONS, HOUSES, PAPERS AND EFFECTS AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES, SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED, AND NO WARRANTS SHALL ISSUE BUT APON PROBABLE CAUSE, SUPPORTED BY OATH OR AFFIRMATION AND PARTICULARLY DESCRIBING THE PLACE TO BE SEARCHED AND THE PERSONS TO BE SIEZED."

NO ONE is going to make me THUMBSCAN under "suspicion" sorry...NOT HAPPENING. You'll have to arrest me.And I will sue...sue...sue.

Mabye you like living in a police state.PV.

I don't...it's not American.

posted 04-27-2003 11:52 PM            

You never know when someone might not like what YOU are doing PV. Could be something real simple....something you didn't think of.

Be careful who you put your faith and trust in.

posted 04-28-2003 12:24 AM            

my perspective is way more simplistic than the patriot act...

agencies do their respective F'n jobs...

ALL non-citizens will not have the benefit of any constitutional protection...period...

so all this sneek and peek tap phones search homes stuff would only apply to non-citizens...which is ok by me....

posted 04-28-2003 11:20 AM            

YOUR KIDS WILL EYE SCAN AT SCHOOL

GETTING THEM INTO THE DATABASE

THEY ARE THE TERRORISTS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5208-2003Apr21.html

N.J. Schools Testing Eye Recognition

PLUMSTED, N.J. - The biggest security breach in recent memory in this small central New Jersey school district happened when a parent forgot to sign in at the office before delivering cupcakes to a child's classroom.

So it was somewhat of a surprise when the Plumsted district's three schools became the test site for a cutting-edge eye recognition security system designed to keep out strangers.

"We're an appealing test site because we are a small community where everybody knows everybody," said Michael Dean, the schools' technology coordinator. "We're taking a rural town and asking, `What is John Q. Public's perception of this technology? What is people's comfort level - is this easy to use?'"

The iris scanning technology will be used to identify employees and those authorized to pick up children in the 1,800-student district. Anyone else will have to show ID before being allowed in. Students themselves will never been screened.

In the wake of shootings and child abductions, schools nationwide have been taking steps to tighten security, from installing metal detectors and video cameras to hiring extra guards.

But iris scanning has never been used in a school, according to Lina Page, director of marketing for Iridian Technologies. The company holds patents on the iris recognition software being used here.

Iris recognition systems use a video camera to record the colored ring around the eye's pupil. More accurate than fingerprints and other biometric markers, iris scanning is considered a nearly foolproof way of identifying people because markings in the iris are unique to each person and do not change as people age.

Plumsted was among some 400 school districts that applied for a grant from the Justice Department for the iris recognition technology. The federal agency is building a database on school security and is using Plumsted as its first data collection.

"The unique thing about our grant is we picked a technology that no one else was doing," said Phil Meara, assistant schools superintendent.

The technology has a wide range of applications. Officials at the Charlotte, N.C., airport recently installed iris recognition systems to identify employees, pilots and flight attendants. And United Nations workers have used it to keep track of Afghani refugees and prevent them from claiming more than their share of aid packages.

Biometrics expert Paul Robertson of TruSecure Corp. in Herndon, Va., said he sees potential benefit in the iris scanning system but questions if it's the best technology for controlling entry to schools.

He cited privacy concerns on behalf of people whose personal data is stored in the schools' system and cautioned against overreliance on a single technology.

More than 300 parents and nearly all the district's teachers and staff volunteered for Plumsted's two-month pilot project that began earlier this month. Pictures were taken of their eyes, and the images were stored in a computer database.

If the iris image in the database matches that of the person seeking entry to the school, the school door automatically unlocks. Members of the project's control group, meanwhile, must show identification and be buzzed into the school by a staffer.

Wendy Arzt, whose two daughters attend New Egypt Elementary School, lauded the technology as noninvasive and easy to use.

"We're fortunate to live in a small, safe town. But in this day and age, you can't take safety for granted," said Arzt, a substitute teacher taking part in the study.

After the study ends, the Maryland consulting firm 21st Century Solutions will evaluate whether the iris scanning was useful in the schools and conduct surveys to determine people's attitudes about the technology, said Craig Uchida, a researcher with the firm.

The Plumsted board of education will then make the final decision about whether to use the technology.

posted 04-30-2003 02:12 AM            

They were, after all, those whom the Gestapo was protecting
by those 12 million deaths.

They could brush the ashes off their shoulders before entering church...

to be told by their ministers what a fine christian man herr Hitler was...
and how
they alone protected western christian civilization from the godless communists and their allies.

Even after allied soldiers forced them to walk through the death camps;
they still could not believe that
good patriotic conservative christian Nazis
were capable of such evil.

Many still believe the death camps were just a liberal commie lie.

source
former Gauliter of East Prussia
---------------------------

posted 04-30-2003 07:21 AM            

That school (with the eye thing) is a testing area, chose specifically because everybody knows everybody and it's a small town.

posted 04-30-2003 11:15 AM            

"You betray your oath for something insidious and wholly evil."

Wake up, your personal and private data is already known to the government if you served in the military like you say you did. That's why I don't believe you for a second, or shitoga either.

I haven't betrayed the oath I took when I enlisted, ever.

I have never said I trust the government, there is dirty laundry in every administration, and good politicians are few and far between. If I don't like something about the government, I pick up pen and paper and write congressmen, senators, and everyone I can to let my opininon known. They do listen.

I see shitoga likes to throw big names around but I'll bet he's never once written letters voicing his opinion.

posted 04-30-2003 08:55 PM            

Often by request.

Lt Col North has only once autographed his Iran Contra testimony--

my copy...

blather away..he knows me; my conservative credentials are above question

I was the first person to ask Lt Col Oliver North to run for president.

Because of me a PA Republican Senator still has his job.

Get off your manual's insults.

Real Americans support the US Constitution.

posted 04-30-2003 09:06 PM            

"my conservative credentials are above question"

posted 04-30-2003 11:44 PM            

as punishment for registering and voting

posted 05-01-2003 10:56 AM            

People like Proud Veteran think its perfectly fine for the government to be secret but god forbid if a citizen wants privacy.

SNITCH FOR THE HOMELAND...IT'S THE NEO-CONSERVATIVE THING TO DO.

BUSH SIGNS(PROTECT ACT) AMBER ALERT BILL...OPENS PANDORAS BOX OF SNITCH TECHNOLOGY

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/04/29/bush.amber.ap/index.html

posted 05-01-2003 01:46 PM            

This article should leave little doubt about
TRAITORS in our government.

------------------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

U.S. says Canada cares too much about liberties

Jim Bronskill, with files from Janice Tibbetts
The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id=78A2260B-4770-4682-BE60-E6FE1D3B8144

Thursday, May 01, 2003

The United States says the lack of funding for police and restrictive privacy legislation in Canada are frustrating probes of political extremists.

The comments in an annual report on international terrorism were the latest critical remarks from the U.S. apparently aimed at prodding Canada to bring its security measures in line.

The State Department report on global terrorism for 2002 suggests that while Canada has been helpful in the fight against terrorism, it doesn't spend enough on policing and places too much emphasis on civil liberties.

It says "some U.S. law enforcement officers have expressed concern" about Canadian privacy laws.

The U.S. officers feel those laws, as well as funding levels for law enforcement, "inhibit a fuller and more timely exchange of information and response to requests for assistance," the report says.

"Also, Canadian laws and regulations intended to protect Canadian citizens and landed immigrants from government intrusion sometimes limit the depth of investigations."

Under the U.S.-Canada Terrorist Interdiction Program, known as TIP, Canada records about one "hit" of known or suspected terrorists a week from the State Department's visa lookout list. The initiative involves software that enhances the ability of border officials to collect, compare and analyse traveller data, allowing them to identify and track people of interest.

Spokesmen for the Solicitor General's Department were not available to comment on the report.

The U.S. observations come amid heightened tension between the two countries following Washington's public expression of disappointment that Canadian forces did not join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In releasing the report, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said although there has been great progress in the last year, terrorism still "casts its grim shadow" across the globe.

The number of terrorist attacks dropped to 199 in 2002 from 355 the previous year. Still, Mr. Powell noted, assaults occurred in every region of the world, claiming 725 lives. Terrorist bombings in Bali last fall killed about 200 people from two dozen countries, including Canada.

Despite the report's criticism of certain Canadian practices, it included effusive praise for the federal government's overall efforts to work with the U.S. in the fight against extrem-ism, calling the relationship "a model for bilateral co-operation on counter-terrorism issues."

Seven American law-enforcement agencies have posted officers to Ottawa and other Canadian cities, while a number of Canadian personnel are assigned to the U.S.

The report also notes Canada's passage of anti-terrorism legislation, its move to create a formal list of terrorist organizations and participation in various international anti-crime forums.

The comments follow State Department remarks in a March report on narcotics and money laundering that urged Canada to ensure privacy protection measures do not prevent the timely sharing of financial information that might be critical to police investigations.

The same report took issue with Canada's move to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a ticketing offence rather than a criminal one. "This will not only harm Canadian society, but have consequences for the United States as well," the report said.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon reiterated yesterday that legislation to decriminalize marijuana will be tabled soon, while Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper said the move would inflame tensions with the U.S.

"Now would not be the time to irritate trade relations and we've already had plenty of warning that this would do just that."
© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen