§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he assesses the cost-effectiveness of fingerprint identification by the Metropolitan police (a) by conventional methods and (b) by the automatic fingerprint recognition system; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Giles ShawFingerprint identification is used by the National Identification Bureau to confirm the identity of arrested persons and by the Metropolitan police to assist the detection of crime. The cost and accuracy of the present methods of fingerprint identification are now under review as part of a study of the case for extending the use of automatic fingerprint recognition technology in the police service.
§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many additional fingerprint identifications beyond that which would otherwise have been obtained have been made by the automatic fingerprint recognition system of the Metropolitan police since its inception; if he will break the figure down by category of crime; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe Metropolitan police automatic fingerprint recognition system has been in use since September 1984. I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that, despite a reduced volume of work, identifications have increased by 215 (19 per cent.) between September 1984 and January 1985 compared with the same period in 1983–84.
Information about the numbers of identifications by offence is not readily available but most offences were of burglary, robbery, theft and allied crimes.