Benefits

Mobile Identification saves time, for both the officer and the public. 

By providing the officer with greater assurance about a subject's identity and doing this quickly, normally within 2 minutes,  it often allows officers to conclude their enquiries and permit the subject to continue on their way without major inconvenience.  An identification arrest can tie-up both the subject and officer for several hours and even traditional checks conducted on the street can take an extended period of time to complete.

The wider public will also benefit from this technology as officers can return to patrol duties and respond to calls for assistance quickly.  Many arrests occur at peak periods and the benefit of retaining officers on patrol is greatest at this time.

Fingerprint images used in this process are not retained or re-used.

Project Lantern

Currently, Lantern is undergoing a field trial with 28 forces and one regional roads policing unit.  Other forces have also used (or are planning on using) Lantern in connection with the policing of large events e.g. 'V' Festival, Global Gathering, Bulldog Bash, Isle of Wight Music Festival and the Stonehenge Summer Solstice. 

It's the use of mobile identification at these types of events that helps keep officers 'on task' and reduces the number of occasions where members of the public are arrested for reasons of identification alone.

Officers were surveyed at the end of 2008 and they said: 

• 'We have saved loads of time as a result of Lantern and it keeps us on the streets and not in custody'
• 'It's the best piece of equipment we have been given in a lot of years'
• 'Excellent bit of kit that I wouldn't be without'
• 'I sincerely hope that this, or a similar device, is brought into general service.  Any police officer will do their job better and easier with the device.'
• 'On just seeing the device, people admitted they'd given false details'      

Officers using the devices credit it with saving them, on average, 87 minutes in 50% of cases where it was deployed. British Transport Police found they saved 37 minutes in 83% of cases. 

Examples of how Lantern has been used in real incidents can be found on page 19 of the Mobile Identification Equality Impact Assessment.

Examples of Lantern Use

• Driver stopped by police raised their suspicions which would have required them to be arrested to resolve issues of identity.  On Lantern being presented, driver admitted true name allowing officers to dispose of the incident by the roadside.
• Lantern trained officers assisted a PCSO who was suspicious of a person they had encountered.  On Lantern being shown the subject admitted his true identity which was confirmed using his fingerprints.  This revealed the male was in breach of bail conditions, had used 12 different alias names and had 99 previous convictions including many serious crimes.  Lantern saved considerable time allowing officers to conclude their involvement more swiftly.
• Officers attended a fatal road accident and found the deceased did not carry any identity documents.  Traditional techniques to identify the victim would have taken many hours and the likely involvement of many officers. Lantern identified the victim and the next of kin were traced and informed without delay.
• Vehicle attempting to avoid police was stopped and driver gave details which could not be verified.  Lantern identified the male as being wanted in connection with a murder in another police force area.

Project MIDAS

MIDAS stands for Mobile Identification at Scene and is the project which will deliver the Mobile Identification capability nationally. MIDAS will be available from Spring 2010.

Business Drivers

The business drivers for MIDAS are derived primarily from the NPIA Business Plan 2008/2011 and other Government reports. You can read more about this on page 14 of the Mobile Identification Equality Impact Assessment.

Equality Impact Assessment

The Equality Impact Assessment document describes the Mobile Identification capability which has been piloted under Project Lantern and will be delivered nationally via Project MIDAS (Mobile Identification at Scene).  The assessment has been sent to the organisations detailed in Appendix A for them to consider and make comment if they choose to do so.

If we have not sent your organisation a copy of the assessment and you would care to comment we would be pleased to hear from you.  Please use the response form provided and make it clear who you represent.  Comments from individuals are welcome also.

We will consider all comments supplied and will publish a report based on these and how it has informed the delivery of the capability.