Mobile Identification 

for the UK Police 

Project Lantern 

Geoff Whitaker 

Head of Biometrics 

National Policing Improvement Agency 
IDENT1 

www.npia.police.uk 
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Search Search

Search 

Search 

Search 

Search 

Search Search Extraction Extraction

Feature 

IDENT1 Service Bus 

Request 

Processing 

Transa

Image Database Access Cont

Enterp

Servic

Finger Search 

Controller 

Search 

Correlation 

& Fusion 

Response 

Generation 

Transa

Datab

Global Finger Image 

Repository 

Global Facial 

Image 

Repository 

Facial Search 

Controller 

Search 

Engines 

Global Palm 

Image 

Repository 

Global 

DNA 

Repository 

Palm Search 

Controller 

generic search processor pool 

Search 

Engines 

DNA Search 

Controller 

Search 

Engines 

Search 

Engines 

global storage 

specialist pool

non-global 

repositories 

Feature 

Feature 

Extraction 

Engines 

www.npia.police.uk 

IDENT1 Future Potential - adding FIND & NDNAD FIND 

Existing Face Rec 

DNA or 

other ID 
www.npia.police.uk 

IDENT1 Connectivity 

IDENT1 

WAN

IDENT1 

WAN CJX CJX

LAN LAN 

F

Ne

Fo

Net

GSI GSI

IDENT1 Primary Central Site 

IDENT1 Secondary Central Site 

IAFS Local 

Do

IDENT1 Bureaux Workstations & peripherals (1250) 

IDENT1 Bureaux Servers 

IDENT1 Livescan (400+) 

NG GN 

NG GN 

Bureaux (52) 

NCIS 

(Interpol) 

NCIS 

(Interpol) 

NPIAnet NPIAnet 
Lantern Pilot (Phase 2) 

www.npia.police.uk 
Project Lantern - Objectives 

‘To provide the UK police service w

capability to perform real time m

identity checks against the full n

collection of 10 prints’. 

• Initial deployment in conjunction wit

existing ANPR systems 

– Key strategic objective – ‘to deny crimin

use of the roads’. 

www.npia.police.uk 
What is ANPR? 

www.npia.police.uk 
What is ANPR? 

www.npia.police.uk 
What is ANPR? 

• Stolen • No insured driver • No MOT • No known owner • Flagged as being of interest to the police 

A hit on the database could mean the vehicle is 

– involved in criminality – trying to evade justice (safety cameras) 

...or it could merely be a result of a recent change of o• 60% of drivers stopped as a result of a

ANPR ‘hit’ give, or attempt to give, falsdetails to the police. 

www.npia.police.uk 
Expected Benefits of Lantern 

• Increased arrests through not releasing wa

persons due to the inability to identify them the time 

• Keeping police officers on the street • Improving public confidence in the police 

– A visible deterrent 

• Reducing bureaucratic overheads • Reducing the number of wrongful arrests a

subsequent litigation 

‘Superior knowledge at the point of con

www.npia.police.uk 
Current procedures 

• Two flat impressions are 

taken, one from each index finger of the subject. 

• These are then sent to IDENT1 (as Type 

records) for comparison against the UK National Collection of 10Prints (records approx 7M individuals) 

• Possible matches are sent back to the 

officer in under 2 minutes 

www.npia.police.uk 
Information Returned 

• Possible matches are 

graded as either ‘High’ or ‘Medium’ confidence 

• Any matches will also 

return File Name, Date of Birth and Gender. 

• ‘High’ confidence matches 

= approx 95% accuracy. 

www.npia.police.uk 
Data Transmission - GPRS 

• UK Police tetra network ‘Airwave’ not able 

handle image file sizes at present. 

– Fingerprint image file sizes transmitted are 20kb 

– But this doubles to 40kb when security overhead

added. 

• Uses secure VPN via internet • Could be used across whole of Europe ? 

www.npia.police.uk 
The downside of using GPRS 

• GPRS is a public network – reliant on the n

providers to get good coverage. 

• Unlikely to be available in times of crisis (s

7/7). 

• Security software is required to protect 

communications between the device and cesystem (not need on Airwave) 

www.npia.police.uk 
Access to Data 

• Device has ‘Restricted’ access • Only suitably trained and authorised officer

allowed to use it 

• If an attempt is made to breach security th

device is ‘wiped’ 

• Files held on the device are encrypted • Biometric data is only stored temporarily o

device (erased at the end of each shift) 

• Transmissions are encrypted and digitally s

www.npia.police.uk 
Some other uses of Lantern 

• Identification of the deceased 

– Able to lift prints electronically at scene or at mo

• Non-designated police stations 

– (no current Livescan capability) 

• Major public events • Special Operations • Identification of prisoners in transit, suspec

bail etc (Identity Management) 

• Immigration / border control checks 

www.npia.police.uk 
The Future... 

• Establish real time links to: 

– Police National Computer (PNC) – Facial Images National Database (FIND) 

• Return mugshots along with demographic data • Incorporate cameras into the devices 

– => Automatic Face Recognition ? 

– Immigration and Nationalisation Directorate 

• Visa applications / Asylum seekers 

– Intelligence databases 

• IMPACT, VISOR, local force systems 

www.npia.police.uk 
The Future... 

• Integrate functionality into multi-purpose 

held devices. 

• Develop an open interface for connection 

mobile Live-ID devices 

– Alignment with the Mobile Data Strategy and fo

police 

• Extend use to whole of UK police service 

(potential for 100,000 concurrent users!) 

• Switch preferred data carrier from GPRS t

Airwave 

www.npia.police.uk 
Some Other Issues..... 

• Remote capture and automated submission of latent fing

palm marks – GMCI 

• Use of local (on board) databases v central collections • Sensors – optical / capacitative / ultrasonic • Robustness and Usability 

– Bright sunlight / rain / heat / cold – Use as a weapon – Impact of loss / theft of the device (remote de-activation) – Battery life – 8 hours continuous use 

• Security • Audit trail – date / time / location 

– User authentication – Role based access to data 

• Legislative issues 

www.npia.police.uk 
The Wider Environment Mobile ID – The Wider Context 

www.npia.police.uk 

Mobile 

Identification 

Vendors 

Mobile 

Fingerprinting

Capabilities Mobile 

Biometric 

Identification 

Mobile 

Data 

In

Ap

Point 

Solutions 
Contact Details: 

Geoff Whitaker National Policing Improvement Agency New Kings Beam House 22 Upper Ground London SE1 9QY Tel: +44(0)208 358 5580 Mobile :+44(0)7720 351 955 Email: geoff.whitaker@npia.pnn.police.uk 

www.npia.police.uk