Police won the right to capture biometric information, such as fingerprints, of people they intended to charge outside the police station environment in the Policing Act – passed by the former Labour government in 2008.These days, hand-held computer technology often far outstrips the capabilities of police Mobile Data Terminals (MDT's, in-car computers), at a fraction of the cost.
The devices, which spokeswoman Claire Harman said were "very much at the concept stage", would replace computers installed in a small number of police cars that will become redundant in 2012 when Telecom switches off its CDMA mobile network.
Ms Harman said police were looking at handheld, in-car portable and fixed in-car options. "Neither fingerprinting, nor photographing would be deployed as part of the initial rollout."
As a practical and evidentiary matter, it would seem capturing biometric information such as mugshots and fingerprints in a controlled environment will be preferred by law enforcement agencies in the vast majority of instances.
