Identix Awarded Purchase Order to Provide Facial Recognition Technology to State of Pennsylvania

Identix has received a purchase order from the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association (PCPA) to provide Identix Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), an enterprise level facial biometric search engine. The ABIS system is a web-based, facial recognition matching platform that enables large-scale identification solutions for government, law enforcement and commercial users. The PCPA is incorporating Identix ABIS system, in conjunction with Identix fingerprint technology, as a critical part of an integrated solution that will enable biometric data-sharing throughout the State of Pennsylvanias law enforcement networks. In December 2003, the PCPA awarded Identix a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) to provide Identix line of TouchPrint(TM) 3000 Live Scan Series to replace, upgrade and add to the more than 100 tenprint live scan systems currently deployed throughout Pennsylvania. According to PCPA Technology Coordinator Chris Braun, this is the first statewide program to incorporate Identix ABIS system to provide face recognition search capabilities against a statewide mugshot and booking database. The initial database being used by Pennsylvania will include approximately 700,000 facial images and PCPA expects to add up to 500,000 images to the database over the next several years. Law enforcement officers throughout the State will have the ability to rapidly and accurately data-mine PCPAs ever-growing database of facial images from approximately 150 sites throughout Pennsylvania. The ABIS system allows law enforcement agencies to automate the mug shot booking process, build photo line-ups and check against watchlists. Officers no longer need to rely solely on often erroneous demographic information, as they will now have the ability to search a facial image against a database of other facial images, quickly and accurately. This can be particularly valuable during an investigation when only a picture or composite sketch is available. In addition, ongoing integrity checks can be run on image databases to search for duplicates, aliases or even mis-entered information.