Last week, the Scott County Sheriff's Department became the first law enforcement agency in Missouri to purchase and install iris recognition software for use in identifying missing people.

Sheriff's departments across the country are turning to the use of such equipment, expected to eventually replace child fingerprinting as the main resource for identifying missing or abducted children.

About 300 agencies across the country are currently using the iris recognition software, according to Lt. Jerry Bledsoe of the Scott County Sheriff's Department.

The equipment purchased by the sheriff's department cost $4,995 and was developed by Biometric Intelligence & Identification Technologies, a company based in Massachusetts, Bledsoe said. The money to buy the equipment came from the inmate security fund, he said.

The sheriff's department has already begun training on the system, which includes two packages, Senior Safety Net and the Child Project.

Both systems work by taking a photograph of an individual's irises — which, like fingerprints, don't change in the course of development — and stores the image for use in a national database.

If the child or senior should ever be reported missing, a participating law enforcement agency would be able to make a positive identification in a few seconds, Bledsoe said.

"It's got a lot of good uses," he said.

The primary intent is for the identification of missing children when they are found by police in other states, said Albany County Sheriff Jim Pond, president of Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police.

The Child Project system allows law enforcement to make a positive identification on a child reported missing or abducted from another state, even if that child is older or lies about their identity.

"I'd hate to have come across a missing child or elderly person and have to let them go when I could have done something as simple as letting them look in a camera," Sheriff Rick Walter said.

Recently, deputies received a call about an elderly Scott County resident walking along U.S. 61 toward Sikeston, Mo., Walter said. The situation was resolved when officers learned the man was an area resident and frequently made the walk, even at night, but the situation serves as an example of how the Senior Safety Net program can be used.

"It's just like child fingerprinting, but the iris is more accurate than a fingerprint," Pond said.

The more law enforcement agencies across the country that participate in the programs, the more useful the databases will be, Pond said.

The state of Wyoming recently adopted the software, and has installed nine units statewide, Pond said.

In addition to using the systems to create a safety net for missing persons, the sheriff's department plans to use the iris recognition software to help track and monitor the movements of sex offenders, both those registered in Scott County and those who may move to the area from other states.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635

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