December 5, 2018 9.15 am This story is over 68 months old

Lincolnshire Police buy mobile fingerprint scanners

Are you who you say you are?
Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones tested the new fingerprint scanners. Photo: Lincolnshire Police

Lincolnshire Police spent £29,000 on mobile fingerprint scanners as the force prepares to roll out 130 devices to officers.

The project has been funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones, with the devices set to be available to every officer in the county.

Lincolnshire is one of the first forces in the country to introduce the scanners.

Officers would previously have had to take someone to the nearest police station to obtain fingerprints, so this latest technology will help speed up the process.

The scanners take just a minute to work, checking fingerprints against two national databases.

They will be used when a person is believed to have committed a crime where officers suspect they are providing the incorrect details.

It can also be used to quickly identify someone experiencing a medical emergency, so contact can be made with their next of kin.

Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones said: “This will further compliment the technology that our officers already have to hand.

“We made a significant investment in getting our officers smartphones which are connected to all the relevant police systems, and introducing these saved every single officer an hour of their time on each shift. This saved the force over 170,000 hours of policing a year.

“I anticipate these scanners will save even more time and I’m delighted to have been able to make this possible.”