Friday, February 8, 2013

Prisoner pulls same ID switcheroo twice.

U.S. Marshals tracked Marquez to a Michigan home in January. However, he pulled the same identity-swap trick on jail officers there after he was arrested and booked. He walked out of that jail too.

Currently, he is on the run and considered armed and dangerous.

Simple mistakes led to Maricopa County Jail escape; armed and dangerous suspect still on loose
(ABC15.com)

As the headline says, they're simple mistakes. They're also simple to fix.

I can't think of a good reason to forego the use of computerized biometric checks for prisoner release. I say computerized because evidently, there was a sergeant who compared an older, smudged, thumb print with a fresh one before allowing the release — an additional benefit of automated fingerprint systems is that they often come with a quality checker on the front end, which goes a long way to preventing the "garbage in" part of the famous metaphor.

Another important issue, touched upon in the video below is the issue of specific training regarding the prisoner release process.

The sheriff’s office is in the procurement stages for new, biometric technology.