The Weehawken Police have a new tool to keep criminals off the streets. Their new fingerprint scanner called Live Scan positively identifies arrestees within minutes – a process that used to take weeks.
Funded by the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, the LiveScan system uses modern technology to capture, analyze, and verify fingerprints.
“It’s like in futuristic movies like Star Wars,” said Weehawken Director of Public Safety Jeff Welz, “where there would be a fingerprint scanner to authorize entry to a locked doorway – the LiveScan system essentially does the same thing.”
The inkless, electronic system digitally captures the fingerprint minutiae – the characteristics that make fingerprints unique – enabling the electronic transfer of an image in a matter of seconds.
In the case of the Weehawken Police, background checks are completed through the New Jersey State Police database. Other privately owned systems can send information to the U.S. Department of Justice for a complete criminal record check.
“There was a meeting with the State Police,” said County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, “who are spearheading the identification of arrestees state-wide. We realized that identification is a critical component and that people need to be positively identified.”
This system replaces the old system of rolling a finger through ink, and then onto paper to capture the print. The older ink process required days or weeks to send a hard copy of the fingerprint cards through the mail, and even longer if the fingerprints needed to be analyzed.
“The system takes an image of the person’s fingerprints,” Welz said, “and sends them to the State Police who match the image in their database, thereby verifying the person really is who he says he is. The database gives us back all kinds of background information about the suspect like previous arrests, aliases, etc. It’s a really fantastic piece of technology.”
In addition, the LiveScan system also avoids many problems associated with the ink system like smudging, smearing, and over-inking.
“Allowing a person to slip through the system in this day and age is inexcusable,” DeFazio said.
A little town that could
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office provided Weehawken with the $18,000 for the LiveScan device after the State Police said the town had a heavy volume of arrestees without having a LiveScan machine.
“Because of our location in proximity to the Lincoln Tunnel, the ferry service, the light rail, and other mass transit, we have a lot of arrests for a small town,” Welz said.
According to Welz, approximately 15 percent of people processed by law enforcement give some kind of false identification.
“The only thing that criminals can’t change is their fingerprints.” – Public Safety Director Jeff Welz
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“The only thing that criminals can’t change is their fingerprints,” Welz said.
Money well spent
The money for the purchase came from the Prosecutor’s Office’s forfeiture account – an account holding confiscated money taken pursuant to court orders.
“We’re very appreciative to the Prosecutor’s Office for providing this system at no cost to the citizens,” Welz said. “We wouldn’t have been able to afford this technology otherwise.”
With current budget restrictions, the timing of the new equipment was perfect for the police force, Welz said.
“The officers are looking forward to utilizing the new system,” Welz said. “You see this technology at some of the most secure installments. Now, we’re bringing this technology to Weehawken.
Sean Allocca can be reached at seana@hudsonreporter.com