Johnson County, Kansas, law enforcement officers are taking advantage of a portable fingerprint ID matcher that can identify subjects in seconds.
I love this idea. It puts an end to the lies that cops hear about subjects not having ID, or pretending to be someone they aren't, or using aliases. It can be a huge help with illegal aliens, also.
I like the idea, but I'd like it better if it were tied into the prints they take when someone gets their drivers license. Or at least that's what they do here in Colorado - a thumbprint is required.
ReplyDelete"yeah, chief, this guy printed to be a mass murderer so we tasered his ass to death...ain't our fault it was a false read."
ReplyDeletejudge, jury, and executioner all based on a freakin' minicomputer? and administered by guys who often are semi-literate, technically and otherwise...what could go wrong?
Alice: Unless it's a new innovation, not every state takes fingerprints with a driver's license; in any event, I'd prefer that citizens not be routinely fingerprinted just so that they're part of a database of potential criminals.
ReplyDeleteJTC: cops already run ID's through their onboard computers and don't go on killing sprees as a result, and in fact the opposite situation is far more likely to occur, i.e., motorist murdering cop. Presuming that cops will go on killing sprees as a result of this technology is rather like presuming gun owners will go on killing sprees simply because they are gun owners. Yes, there's bad cops out there and you have described some in your blog, but wouldn't you admit that the vast majority of them are as law-abiding and committed to good as the rest of the general population?