mobileID is a device about the size of a BlackBerry that lets police officers take suspect's fingerprints on the street and check the prints against the national fingerprint Database without having to return to the police station.
the process takes about two minutes.
mobileID is part of a larger project called mobile identification at Scene (Midas).
the devices work by scanning both of the suspect's index fingers and communicating over an encrypted wireless link with the database.
the NPIA will also deliver the first elements of the police national database and make images of suspect's available on officer's mobile devices.
in 2012, the agency plans to deploy no cooperative facial recognition systems.