Facial Recognition In Action
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida uses facial recognition technology to identify offenders and speed up the booking process, and hopes to eventually build a statewide system with possibly millions of images.
The new system features a pre-book kiosk that takes four pre-booking images in less than five seconds, which are saved for future investigations. During formal booking, deputies collect data for 48 demographic fields, 14 of which are mandatory; portraits and profiles of prisoners, any number of scars, marks or tattoos; and signature, if desired.
Upon completing the record, a standard movement sheet is printed by the deputy as well as an inmate ID card, which is less expensive and harder to alter compared to bracelets.
Upon release from the county jail, the release photograph and demographic data is sent to authorized Pinellas County employees via Viisage’s browser-based image retrieval system.
Using the system, deputies have better access to criminal histories; can search using various demographic fields; and can copy, save, or email images. Mobile searches can be also be processed through notebook PCs or a PDA.
In addition, deputies can take images of a person using a digital camera and launch a database search by using a docking station inside the patrol car, as well as conduct searches using a digitized image from a still, video, or composite source.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from Government Security (08/04) Vol. 3, No. 5, P. 40 .
