The Continued Rise of Biometrics in Citizen ID

Although the subject of biometrics can still be controversial, there is a growing acceptance of biometric identification—fueled no doubt by its increased use in everything from mobile phone security to citizen identification. In 2020, we will see more police forces adopting mobile fingerprinting for the identification of individuals on the streets. This delivers benefits to both the police force and the citizen. For the police, the ability to accurately identify people on the street saves the time and money involved in escorting individuals to police stations to confirm identity. Similarly, with instant identification citizens do not run the risk of losing their precious time proving their identities at a police station. In some locations, this has had such an impact that we will soon see mobile enrollment of individuals to complement mobile identification. While facial recognition biometrics has its detractors, the benefits in terms of convenience are huge. 2020 will continue to see facial programs implemented with a continued focus on ensuring the source data is secure, authentic and protected. Some of these issues can be achieved by secure, attended enrollment of the citizen at the start of the process, backed by some form of multi-factor authentication. This can then enable remote processes and achieve the potential benefits while mitigating attacks such as spoofing. Read this case study to learn how HID is helping police forces modernize their fingerprinting processes. Steve Warne is Senior Director, Product Marketing, Citizen Identification Solutions, where he is responsible for the marketing and solution strategy related to the development and growth of HID’s global government ID business. Steve has more than 15 years of experience in the government identity market.