In MORIS, short for Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System, is a device that seems more science fiction than real. The handheld biometric device is so small and light that it can easily be carried in a pocket like any smartphone. In order to identify a suspect, a police officer needs to attach the device to a smartphone and snap an image of someones face from up to 5 feet away or scan a person's eye from up to 6 inches away, or take fingerprints.
The biometric device will automatically use the smartphones connectivity to access the law enforcement database and if there is a match the message gets flashed on the screen. The database has grown phenomenally over the last few years and it is available in 47 states. Each handheld device costs $3,000. Basically now the cops dont need to know the name, the date of birth, and the social security number. All they need to do is ask someone to look into the camera, and in seconds the identification details become available.
But privacy advocates are not in favour of MORIS becoming a regular feature of law enforcement. They want to have rules and regulations in place to govern how the cops will use this new technology. On their part, some law enforcement officials claim that the device cannot violate anyones privacy as once the recognition data is either matched or cleared, no record of the images or identifying information is stored.
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