Biometric Facial Recognition Technology Helps Track Down Crime Suspect

Thanks to a biometric facial recognition system, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department in Washington State recently made an arrest that helped break up a local identity theft ring.

With the MorphoFace Investigate system from Sagem Morpho, the sheriff’s office identified the suspect by comparing a photo taken by an ATM to the department’s database of more than 350,000 mugshots.

“MorphoFace Investigate provided the evidence needed by a Superior Court Judge to determine probable cause and issue an arrest warrant,” said Eric Hess, Sagem Morpho product manager for biometrics. “This sets a new precedent in Pierce County for facial recognition biometrics.”

The sheriff’s department was the first law enforcement agency in the United States to deploy the company’s technology earlier this year.

In the pilot program, the sheriff’s department focused on the technology’s ability to help speed up the booking process by providing a secondary identification method. During booking, the department uses the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, also known as AFIS, to check if a suspect is in the criminal database. Fingerprint examiners then validate the results.

Adding MorphoFace Investigate technology for mugshot comparison allows staff to validate biometric IDs with a single examiner.

 “[MFI] eliminates 80 to 85 percent of the work in booking repeat offenders,” said Steve Wilkins, PCSD forensic investigations manager. “Within minutes, the criminal record can be updated.”

In September, the department used the technology to break open an alleged criminal ring that was stealing ATM cards and withdrawing money from the victims’ bank accounts.

Armed with only the grainy ATM photo taken of a suspect during one of the thefts, MorphoFace Investigate searched the database and returned two possible matches in less than 5 seconds.

Detectives then confirmed both matches were the same suspect with a history of prior identity theft offenses. With the facial biometric match and criminal history, the department had no problems receiving a search warrant to search the suspect’s residence. During the search, officers found evidence of identity theft and arrested the suspect, whose trial is pending.

“The nearly 95 percent success rate of accurately identifying suspects with the MFI system in Pierce County is impressive when you consider that some of the mug shots were more than 10 years old and that facial expressions run the gamut of emotions due to drugs alcohol, and illness not to mention the changes in facial hair,” Hess said. “Biometric facial recognition has evolved to where it has added a new dimension to evidence gathering and intelligence analysis as part of criminal investigations.”

About the Author

Brent Dirks is senior editor for Security Today and Campus Security Today magazines.

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