Long arm of the law reaches into ears with biometrics

Using biometrics to track down criminals is age old - fingerprinting has been around since Victorian times. But boffins at the University of Leicester think they've come up with a new way to monitor wrongdoers - earprints.

The University's Forensic Pathology Unit has been working with K9 Forensic Services to develop the computerised ear-recognition scheme, to be used by police forces, as well as immigration and intelligence services, which can recognise pictures and prints of whole or partial ears.

While leaving fingerprints at crime scenes is fairly common, earprints still turn up - think of a burglar listening at a door to see if anyone's in the house, for example.

The new electronic ear-recognition system could be quicker and more reliable than previous ear comparisons performed by human investigators and may lead to the creation of a national or cross-border database of earprints.

Professor Guy Rutty, who heads the Forensic Pathology Unit, said in a statement: "This breakthrough in the computerisation of the identification system may ultimately allow the development of a system similar to that of the national fingerprint system, which is used for the identification of individuals by police forces across the world."

Biometrics looks to be one of the technology cash cows of the future, according to consultantcy International Biometric Group. According to the group's "Biometric Market Report 2003-2008", spending on the technology could hit $1.2bn this year, with $350m going on fingerprinting.

Earprint technology has got the eye of the European Union too. Project FeariD (Forensic Ear Identification) was begun in 2002 and will run till the start of 2005. It aims to assess the reliability of ear recognition and its feasibility as a crime-fighting tool. More than 3,300 sets of ears will be examined in the course of the research.

Earprint recognition had become something of a dirty word in forensic science, with the conviction of a petty thief from Huddersfield for the murder of an elderly woman based on earprint evidence. The conviction was quashed in January of this year on the grounds that the comparison of an earprint and the ear itself rely too much on the judgment of the individual examiner. DNA evidence later confirmed that the print didn't belong to him.

Anyone hungry for more facts and figures should visit www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime, where a database of crime statistics has been launched today. The database allows users to search for local crime rates by postcode and compare them to the national average as well as providing information on crime prevention.