UK police upgrade biometric ID tech

The Police IT Organisation (PITO) has teamed with Northrop Grumman in an eight-year, £122m deal to create next-generation biometric identification technology for UK police.

Under the contract, Northrop Grumman's information technology sector will provide the underlying technology for the Ident1 service, which allows police to identify suspects from palm prints and fingerprints throughout the UK.

Currently UK police can search fingerprints found locally against a national database. Ident1 will add to this the ability to match palm prints against a database with over six million records.

Ident1 - a programme funded by the Home Office, the Capital Modernisation Fund and the Scottish Executive - will also be used for future initiatives such as mobile fingerprint checking, facial imaging and video identification.

Dr Fred Preston, PITO's director of identification, said in a statement that the UK has "set the standard" for police identification technology and that this contract will allow the country "to continue the good work".