"Fingerprint scanners urged in cruisers" by John C. Drake, Globe Staff | July 9, 2008
Drivers who give Boston police officers fake names would not be able to hide their identity for long, under a Boston city councilor's proposal to outfit police cruisers with fingerprint scanners.
Councilor Rob Consalvo said that installing $8,000 portable fingerprint scanners in cruisers would allow officers to check prints against fugitive and criminal databases, even if a person does not produce a driver's license.
They can't spend that on something else, like keeping a school open?
"They will be able to immediately identify someone who has warrants for their arrest, either in our state or other areas, and could immediately identify a person who's a potential threat to society and get them taken off the streets," Consalvo said.
Start here please: Feds Allowed Illegal Immigrant Rapist to Go Free
But Consalvo's proposal is raising civil-rights concerns. A Boston civil liberties advocate said that allowing police to detain someone for fingerprinting on the spot, if they would not otherwise have reason to take them into custody, could raise constitutional concerns.
"If the purpose is just to do some kind of screening on the spot, I think there are going to be questions that arise as to whether police have the authority to detain someone for that purpose," said John Reinstein, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Consalvo will ask the City Council today to schedule a hearing. He said that councilors should consider any civil-liberties concerns the proposal would create.
"Clearly it would be used only when there's probable cause," Consalvo said.
That's what they always say (think Tasers)!!!
In addition to the fingerprint scanners, Consalvo said he wants the city to consider a system that would allow officers to phone police reports into a computer to cut the time they spend doing paperwork. An officer at the police station or a trained civilian then would transcribe the police report."
