West Midlands pilots biometric access system

West Midlands will be piloting a biometric access system at its buildings across the county. The technology, that has been previously used in prisons, will enable West Midlands to track who is in their building and also control who is accessing their computer systems.

Oct 5, 2006
By David Howell
L-R: PC Joe Swan, Sgt Thomas Neilson and Sgt Chris Smith

West Midlands will be piloting a biometric access system at its buildings across the county. The technology, that has been previously used in prisons, will enable West Midlands to track who is in their building and also control who is accessing their computer systems.

West Midlands Police Support Manager Fred Tracey said the police system will allow security experts to “know exactly where they [police] are in the building. But it`s not necessarily where they are in the building, it`s whether they are somewhere they shouldn`t be. It`s not big brother, it`s managing the life of an individual in West Midlands Police without a bureaucratic overhead.”

The aim is to make the administration of the force’s security system more efficient. Mr Tracey concluded: “It`s about getting more boots on the beat. We`re spending about 10,000 man hours a year managing the system. We reckon we can reduce that by two thirds.”

The pilot is being implemented by Enline, a company based in Wetherby.

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