Police officers across the UK will soon be able to check an individuals identity at the roadside within two minutes, following the introduction of a new mobile fingerprinting device later this year.  
The Agency has signed a contract with Cogent Systems to supply Lantern mobile fingerprint identification devices, which will allow police officers to scan a persons fingerprints while on the beat and check them against the national fingerprint database for verification. This will enable faster identification of those whose details are verified without having to take up much of their time, and also quickly identify those who are known to the police. This will save the publics time, police officers time and help increase the number of offenders brought to justice.
The Lantern device works by electronically scanning the subjects index fingers, which are sent using encrypted wireless transmissions to the central fingerprint database. A real-time search against the national fingerprint collection of 8.3 million prints is performed. Any possible matches are identified and transmitted to an officer in a target time of less than two minutes.
During the first year of roll-out, up to 3,000 new devices will be deployed to forces in England and Wales, helping to cut the number of trips police make back to the police station and giving them more time to spend on the frontline. Instead of arresting and detaining an individual to establish their identity, which can take up to several hours, it will take a couple of minutes.
As an example, officers stopped a man who produced an Irish passport as proof of identity. The officers checked his identity against the national fingerprint database using a mobile identification device, and within minutes, he was identified as an offender who had fled the UK 11 years previously after being found guilty of raping an 11-year-old girl.
Other benefits reported from officers currently using mobile identification devices as part of the national Lantern Pilot, include an average saving of at least 30 minutes per case where used; improved levels of public confidence; and the identification of unconscious or fatal victims at a crime or accident scene.
The Lantern pilot, which involves 330 devices being piloted in 28 forces, has helped the development of a national solution for use by all forces, by demonstrating how the device performs in an operational environment. The pilot will end in the summer of 2010 when the new devices begin to roll out to forces.
Identification is crucial to police investigations, and giving officers the ability to do this on-the-spot within minutes is giving them more time to spend working in their communities, helping to fight crime, bringing more offenders to justice and better protecting the public, says Chief Constable Peter Neyroud, Chief Executive of the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA).