The international police are adopting cutting-edge yet easy-to-use multi-biometric identification systems to empower their 194 member countries with penetrating criminal scrutiny.

In its continual efforts to protect the world, international criminal police organization INTERPOL is employing a new identification system that is aimed at enhancing accuracy, speed and user friendliness for operators.

The new system, based on the latest-generation multi-biometric technologies (including fingerprints, palmprints, faces, irises and tattoos) is designed and scaled to enable police officers in 194 member states to carry out an unlimited number of profile searches and analyses at will. Called MBIS (Multi-Biometric Identification Systems), the system will allow up to one million forensic analysis searches per day, including fingerprints, palm prints and faces.

Touted as a “game-changing fingerprint and facial recognition system” by French supplier IDEMIA, MBIS is expected to provide instant potential identification of suspects in criminal cases, and covers both police investigations and border control needs. It is interoperable with automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS), booking stations and mobile terminals.

Such capabilities, as part of a broader range of Multi-Biometric Search Services, are expected to pave the way for introducing the application of biometrics to other sectors worldwide: in addition to police investigations, INTERPOL plans to enable its member countries’ authorities to query the INTERPOL database from border control stations.

Said Cyril Gout, INTERPOL Director of Operational Support and Analysis: “In the same way that criminals use ever-more innovative and sophisticated ways to avoid detection, law enforcement must also benefit from the latest advances in technology, especially in biometric security, to better combat all forms of transnational crime.”

IDEMIA’s EVP for Public Security & Identity Business said: “Innovation has underpinned our work for INTERPOL from the very outset. We worked closely together to capture the specific requirements of the INTERPOL teams so as to enhance our solutions. We’re thrilled to cement our longstanding alliance with INTERPOL who share our purpose to make people’s lives safer around the world.”