PITO rolls out palm print search capability

The Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) has completed the roll-out of Palm Searching capability to all police forces in England and Wales.

Forensic investigators have collected palm prints for over two years but national searching has not been possible until now.The introduction of Palm Searching means that palm prints, which can account for 20 per cent of all crime scene marks, can be automatically searched for matches against a national database.

The capability is the first major software extension of IDENT1 - the biometric technology platform which supersedes NAFIS (National Automated Fingerprint Identification System). IDENT1 extends the capability of NAFIS and provides a strategic platform for future biometric capabilities and a wider range of identification services being developed by PITO. IDENT1 will allow searching of all mainland UK records for the first time, Scotland having signed up to take the platform. The training bureau in Scotland also has access to the new Palm Searching capability.

Forces are now able to use this capability operationally and a number have reported notable success in doing so. Northamptonshire Police made their first positive identification within minutes of using the Palm Searching capability. Investigators used the new software to match a palm print taken from the scene of a robbery in October 2005 to a suspect’s print held on a local database.

David Goodwin, Fingerprint Manager at Northamptonshire, said: «Members of my team were being trained on the software when they noticed similarities between two palm prints and further analysis of these proved a match. As another tool in our armoury Palm Searching will undoubtedly prove very useful.»

Humberside Police has reported 20 hits since starting to use the capability at the beginning of the month.

Richard Gallagher, Head of Fingerprint Bureau at Humberside, said: «We would not have been able to achieve these matches without the new palms tool as we did not have the associated finger marks to go on in each case.»

In rolling out the Palms Searching, PITO was able to meet a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for the IDENT1 project.

Fred Preston, Director of Identification at PITO, said: «We are delighted to hear that Palm Searching is already delivering real business benefits to the police. IDENT1 aims to provide fingerprint bureaux across the country with the state-of-the-art tools to help tackle the daily business of solving crime.»

Notes to editors:

About PITO

The Police Information Technology Organisation provides information technology and communications systems and services to the police and other criminal justice organisations in the UK. PITO is a non-departmental body, overseen by a board that draws its members from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the police authorities, the Home Office and the Scottish Executive. The board also has independent members.

About IDENT1

The IDENT1 Service contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman Corporation in November 2004 following extensive evaluation and negotiations and work began on migrating police forces from the existing NAFIS system to IDENT1 in 2005.

Further initiatives already underway - including mobile fingerprint checking (LANTERN), facial imaging (FIND & FACE RECOGNITION) and video identification (NVIS) - will be able to exploit the IDENT1 platform.

For more information, please contact:

Alison Hicks PITO Press Office 020 8358 5759 mail

Kay Odysseos Project Communications Coordinator 020 8358 5554 mail

Source : http://www.pito.org.uk/in_focus_1_543_58943.htm