Digital Thumbprints and Scanned Signatures are Captured Online. |
 |
|||
| Texas House Bill 3613
has pressed a vendor into adding new services to support the
Texas law enforcement community. Law enforcement officers are now
held to a new standard for their photo identification cards with
the passing of this bill. Capturing digital fingerprints and
signatures directly from their web based services are a few of
the new features that have been added to their services to meet
the demands of this new requirement. Other organizations were
previously requesting similar solutions, but the passing of
HB3613 prompted the development of these new services. Starting in September of 2007, Texas law enforcement officers are required to carry a photo ID card that contains both the signatures and thumbprints or barcodes. The law requires departments of less than 1,000 officers to have these new cards issued prior to January 1st of 2008 and January 1st of 2010 for departments of more than 1,000 officers. The way that these features have been added to the online services are through simple and affordable devices that can be connected to any computer through a USB port. These devices can cost as little as $500 and save the information directly to the customers secure online database. Each officer has a unique record on the system containing all of the personal information required by the bill, their photo, signature and thumbprint. They have added the ability for departments to purchase both capture devices in one piece of hardware or purchase the capture devices separately if only one is required. One of the reasons that this was an easy addition to their services for this community is due to their national ID card projects. This organization has been contacted by many different nations asking for their assistance in creating a national identification solution and these types of tools are part of those requests. One of the next waves of services they intend to add is access control for secured areas. Brian Jinks of FullIdentity.com stated “Having the ability to use the same secure online database to configure and track each individual’s security access only makes sense and it’s one of the next areas that we will be pursuing.” Creating cards for these types of solutions is one of the services they presently offer, but this would add the ability to implement and manage that access as well. Texas DPS states that in 2004 there were 997 agencies employing a total of 49,120 fulltime officers. This represents about 6% of the over 730,000 fulltime officers employed in the whole of the US. These Texas law enforcement offices also employ over 30,000 civil employees. Texas also has an additional 14,633 federal officers predominantly working in Customs and Border Control, Federal Prisons, FBI and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. FullIdentity.com is presently working for over 230 police departments since they started to pursue this industry in 2006 and adds approximately 30 new customers every day. Their services are primarily photo identification cards and criminal background checks. |
||||