As the technology program manager with the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, Bill Kalaf is using his time at CHDS to explore how technology can help officers in the field better identify subjects. His Technology for Homeland Security paper, "Arizona Law Enforcement Mobile Identification Technology for Law Enforcement" explores the challenges officers face in an era of document forgery and the technologies to overcome those hurdles.

1. The research identified issues regarding how law enforcement agencies in Arizona struggle to identify subjects at first point of authorized contact in the field; the impact of in-accurate subject identification information contained within law enforcement record management systems; and new biometric technologies that are available to law enforcement agencies that can address these issues.
   
   Current forms of identification can easily be created with fake or stolen information.  Officers in the field rely on driver's licenses, passports, and any form of paper identification, or when nothing else is available the subject provides his/her name and demographic information like age, height, weight, color of eyes, and hair color.  All forms of identification can be forged or in-accurate.
   
   Law enforcement record management systems are dependent on accurate subject identification information.  The information is used for field officer public safety decisions that impact both officer safety and the citizens of the State.  Research found instances where warrants for arrest were issued against invalid names.  In some cases, a citizen's identity was stolen, used by a criminal, and a warrant was issued for an unsuspecting citizen.  The current process for identification has been around for many years.  Both federal and state law enforcement agencies are looking at new biometric technologies that bring positive identification capabilities to officers in the field and improve subject information stored with their systems.
   
   Additional research was conducted to look at new technologies that are being developed and deployed to law enforcement agencies across the U.S.  The research focused on mobile systems that use rapid response fingerprint, facial imagery, and iris scanning biometrics.  Research was conducted to identify how the systems are used by officers in the field, the types of communications the mobile devices use to access biometric information, the accuracy of the technology in a mobile environment, and how the technologies can be combined into a multi-biometric mobile identification system.
   
   
2. Federal and State law enforcement officers are the first line of defense for protecting the public against terrorist attacks, crime, and threats to local communities.  Since 9/11, DHS has made information sharing a top priority for both federal and state law enforcement agencies.  With the vast amount of subject information that will be available across federal and state jurisdictions, it will be critical to improve the accuracy of subject identification information stored within systems.  The research shows that mobile biometric identification technology is available and can support the improvements required for subject identification.
   
   
3. Kalaf's thesis compares existing law enforcement biometric systems and information sharing programs across various states in the U.S.  His findings indicate that mobile biometric identification systems are being deployed.  However, the systems are limited to criminal subjects who have prior arrests.  Biometric identifiers are not created at first point of contact, the systems are only used to validate against existing records.  Also, law enforcement record management systems do not use subject biometric identifiers.  These systems still rely on a subject's name and demographics for identification.
   
   Kalaf discovered that Biometric systems and information sharing programs across the US are not integrated.  Using a subject's name and demographics is still a common practice for identifying subjects within information sharing systems.  This is the case, even if biometric identification information is available.