Simply looking at the news – or heck even movies – you’ll see how much technology is helping to keep the world safer. Law enforcement is now able to locate people by a video that was captured by someone’s ring camera to a partial print that was left on some object they happened to touch. This is good news because now cases can be closed faster and justice and her hammer can deal with said criminals quickly and swiftly.
One of the cool things coming out of this wave is IDRS within criminal registration and you will discover more about it in this article and even look at how it’s working in and out of law enforcement and even some of the issues it poses. Let’s talk all things tech and crime!
Understanding Biometrics: What Is It?
Your personhood has a lot that makes you stand out from the billions of people that pepper the planet. This is what is called biological data – which can be used to locate you if you are suspected of committing a crime or are missing. This biological data can include fingerprints, analyzing your face, eye scanners, voice recognition, and walking stride identification. By proving someone’s identity through something in their body, a much stronger sense of security and accuracy is used in place of the traditional plastic ID card or password.
The Biometric Revolution in Criminal Investigations
- Accelerated Identification Processes
Imagine a crime scene trail that used to take several hours before biometric software. It’ll take minutes to reveal the person’s fingerprint and facial recognition. The software itself will take less time to cross-verify the record and bring out the list of people involved. The officers can put on their intel thinking booth to gather other information available on the person, reach out to the person then arrest.
- Enhancing Evidence Reliability
Everyone knows that inevitably, human error will have a hand in just about anything. What separates this software from the average investigator with a pair of eyes is that this experience is objective. Humans may have face recognition, and eye and gait recognition similar to this software, but the second our minds hint that something is off, it prevents them from putting the suspect behind bars. This is what biometric software excels at. Software like MegaMatcher Criminal IDRS is a solution that allows its users to gather data with strong reliability and the evidence to create a story with which to convince the jury.
- Crime Prevention
The old adage goes “Prevention is better than cure”; and biometrics can certainly help with that. Law enforcement can descend on criminals who may have a history and neutralize the situation before it has the chance to turn into a crime.
The Wider Implications of Biometrics
All this sounds like we’ve gone down a rabbit hole in a sci-fi movie (or ten) but these are the choices we face and the reality we will be living. And as cool as all this sounds, the world is a lot more vast and dystopia than all these imagined crime-fighting scenarios.
- Privacy Concerns
As Spiderman said: With great power comes great responsibility. And when it comes to biometrics, one of the most pressing issues is the issue of identity and privacy. Who exactly gets to keep all this info? Implementing biometric technologies is typically for law enforcement and general safety (especially if you’re a VIP).
- The Impact on Society
The application of biometrics is so much more far-reaching than we might like to think. Outside of a law enforcement context, biometrics are used in our day-to-day lives in aviation, banking and finance, healthcare, online security, and more. Just imagine how much more enjoyable your airport experience would be if you were traveling the world without the need to pull out your passport wherever you go. And yes, biometric authentication also makes our financial transactions more secure, and (lord knows) we would all like to say goodbye to passwords that can be so easily compromised.
When we step back and really think about it, the future of biometrics has long been painted as a sci-fi fever dream, and if designed and deployed correctly, it will offer society comfort and security.
- Biometrics In The Workforce
Some pretty high-security workplaces are jumping in on that biometrics bandwagon – ditching key cards and going for fingerprints and retina scans – and this even stretches to work phones and laptops. While this is all very “Mission Impossible” and cool they are shall we say, ethical concerns about the surveillance state kerfuffle.
A Final Sound-Off On Biometrics!
Like anything else that is powerful and innovative, biometrics offers both; a way to make life better while posing some ethical concerns as well. But one thing that cannot be denied is how much it is making life easy for us humans – from how we enter the gym to bringing criminal justice swiftly – all the while keeping ourselves secure!
