The Metropolitan Police is set to start trials of a new mobile fingerprint scanner which was developed by Scotland Yard in partnership with the Home Office, and which City Hall says is “significantly” cheaper than commercial options.
According to a written answer provided by Mayor Sadiq Khan to London Assembly Caroline Pidgeon, the new in-car system uses software “partially funded by the Home Office Biometric Team” and will be piloted in Westminster ahead of a wider roll-out.
In his answer, Mr Khan added: “It is anticipated that MPS capability in terms of availability of this device will increase and the cost per unit be significantly less than commercial alternatives.”
While it declined to comment publicly on costs because of commercial confidentiality considerations, the force has confirmed it intends to rollout the devices on an operational evaluation by the end of May and intends to deploy a total of 600 within the next 6 months.
A Home Office Privacy Impact Assessment documents for the new system is to be published “in the next few months”.
