Biometrics across borders

Managers and specialists dealing with biometrics across the government departments have held a one week course to share developments and ideas.

The course, organised by the Home Office Scientific Development Branch, looked at joining all the strands working in the area of biometrics including ID cards, e-borders, Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Passports, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Cabinet Office, UK Visas and the police.

Colin Patton, Director of Identification, Geoff Whittaker, Head of Biometrics and David White, Head of Systems Engineering at the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO) presented in-depth information on the forensic application of biometrics, security, performance, system issues and procurement. They also provided case studies gathered from an operational environment.

Colin Patton said: “We were able to look at how we could work strategically, not painting ourselves into silos and learning from each others’ experiences.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for my colleagues and I to share our experience and expertise with other practitioners and senior managers in the field. The breadth of the knowledge across PITO is phenomenal and we hope the delegates will learn from our experience.

“Our systems are at the forefront of identification technology. For example, IDENT1 is a nationally rolled-out system that provides leading edge identification services to the police. The system will continue to develop and grow over the coming years as the police service need for accurate, fast identification services increases. We will also give information on other biometric technologies such as facial recognition, palm prints, iris recognition and vein mapping.

“Important to the work of all the organisations involved in biometrics is the fact that we need to use similar standards and data formats to be shared if deemed necessary considering data protection and personal information.”

Other topics discussed included the human and legal factors surrounding biometrics, mathematical underpinnings and testing protocols.

The workshop was co-sponsored by the Home Office and the UK Government Biometrics Working Group who will review the principles of technologies as applied to large scale systems and will address the immediate need for high quality training for staff involved in the procurement and operation of biometric systems.

Colin Patton outlined the latest developments in the pilot project for a Facial Image National Database (FIND).