MI - Pricey system for IDs unused

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Y2K discussion group : One Thread

A $1-million electronic-fingerprint identification system Detroit police bought nearly four years ago to give the department instant access to the state's databases on criminals is still not working properly.
   If the 20 machines, known as Live Scan, were properly deployed, Wayne County Jail officials would be able to identify hundreds of inmates booked into the jail under false names.
   But the computerized terminals, costing about $75,000 each, have never transmitted or received data from the Michigan State Police Automatic Fingerprint Identification System, known as AFIS.
   "We're hoping we will get them up in the near future," said Scott Blanchard, manager of the state AFIS and Live Scan programs.
   The failure also causes identification problems with cases and defendants in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, 36th District Court in Detroit and Wayne Circuit Court.
   Detroit Police Deputy Chief John Clark said four of the machines are not working, and he blamed problems with the others on an overdue maintenance contract needed to pay for technical service to the computers.
   Currently, 65 police agencies in the state are connected with Live Scan, and about 60 more hope to be online by the end of summer.
   Last year, at least 7,000 people arrested statewide lied to police about their identities.
   Live Scan is in use by 26 police agencies in Oakland County, and it has repeatedly unmasked aliases and bogus names provided by criminals whose fingerprints were on file in the state police database. The system is also credited with keeping suspects, including violent offenders, from mistakenly being allowed to post bond to get of jail.

Detroit News

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2002


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