By Apple’s iPhone is about to become one of the means of helping the FBI fight crime in the US. Because of its touchscreen capabilities, the FBI application of the iPhone would be to recognize previously unknown fingerprints in various cases. The idea behind this decision is to detect criminals, terrorists and possible suspects in investigations conducted by the FBI in order to gain better national security.
This concept does not come as a surprise at all, simply because technology is evolving and all the world must adapt to new ways of living. As a result, investigations as those conducted by the FBI could greatly benefit from such ideas.
The mobileOne iPhone is basically a system that turns the Apple smartphone in a law-enforcement weapon. With its costs being around $600, it is expected to be afforded by almost all police departments in the US, not to mention that it’s way better in comparison with the traditional Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System (MORIS). The older projects such as MORIS can only prove the capability of such devices being used by policemen. In only seven years of usage, MORIS helped the sheriff’s office to arrest around 700 people, using a complex system of fingerprinting, facial landmarks and around 200 different features of the iris.
The first purpose of the mobileOne iPhone will be the quick fingerprinting of the suspects in order to save time and resources during an investigation, making life easier for law-enforcement officers. Android smartphones were not chosen to this kind of tasks because their inconsistencies in biometrics: as it turns out, the fingerprinting device of androids prove not be as accurate as Apple’s iPhones.
These new police-smarphones should be in use by 2012, becoming the newest project to help law-enforcement officers in combating crime in the US.
