New tech: Lincolnshire CSIs have been trying out some new mobile fingerprinting technology recently.
You may have seen it on CSI TV shows, and now it has hit Lincoln.
Lincolnshire Police are using mobile phone technology to pilot a new way of sending fingerprints from the crime scene to the Fingerprint Bureau for processing.
The Remote Transmission technology was originally developed in 2004, and has been implemented by 75% of Forces in the UK.
It works by using a phone app to take fingerprints from the crime scene or CSI bases, to a base laptop for capturing, straight to the Fingerprint Bureau.
A mobile app "scans" the fingerprints.
Originally, getting fingerprints to the bureau would have taken days, meaning slower time for instance recovering stolen items to rightful owners.
Lincolnshire is the first force to successfully develop and use the technology where in other places it has previously failed.
Head of Lincolnshire Police’s Fingerprint Bureau Ian Gledhill said: “Lincolnshire Fingerprint Bureau and CSI experimented firstly with BlackBerry phones using email, but a mobile app was developed by Immersive Forensics allowing for ease of use and multiple fingerprint submission using a HTC phone running Windows Phone 7.”
CSI Matt Mears said: “This quick and simple method of image submission allows the Fingerprint Bureau to receive, process and identify crime scene marks in real time.
“Images are being sent and received this way on a daily basis and have already resulted in successful identifications and detections.
“This technology has great potential. It is not limited to fingerprints, it also gives the capability to send footwear marks and crime scene photographs”.
There are currently only two CSIs using the mobile technology, but police forces are looking to expand the pilot into the region, hopefully followed by the country.
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