MIDDLETON - The iris has it - the key to your identity, that is.
And someday soon, sheriff's departments in the state's 14 counties could be using iris scans to find missing children and adults, with Middleton Jail taking a lead in making what used to be the stuff of James Bond films a reality.
The Massachusetts Sheriff's Association, under the new leadership of Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins, is seeking bids from companies to set up an "iris biometric identification program." A bill passed in July provides $439,000 in funding for the new system.
Like your fingerprints, 235 random patterns, swirls, lines and flecks on the iris never change. The left eye and the right eye are different. A scan of the iris with a digital camera can be stored in a database for retrieval later and then used to verify a child's identity.
Iris biometric recognition has come into increasing use in the state in the past few years.
In August 2005, sheriffs in southeastern Massachusetts helped launch a program called the Children's Identification Location Database Project.
"Sheriff Bob Garvey of Hampshire County originally came up with the idea to do (iris recognition)," said Kevin O'Reilly, communications director with the CHILD Project. "He had used iris technology in his correctional facility."
And someday soon, sheriff's departments in the state's 14 counties could be using iris scans to find missing children and adults, with Middleton Jail taking a lead in making what used to be the stuff of James Bond films a reality.
The Massachusetts Sheriff's Association, under the new leadership of Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins, is seeking bids from companies to set up an "iris biometric identification program." A bill passed in July provides $439,000 in funding for the new system.
Like your fingerprints, 235 random patterns, swirls, lines and flecks on the iris never change. The left eye and the right eye are different. A scan of the iris with a digital camera can be stored in a database for retrieval later and then used to verify a child's identity.
Iris biometric recognition has come into increasing use in the state in the past few years.
In August 2005, sheriffs in southeastern Massachusetts helped launch a program called the Children's Identification Location Database Project.
"Sheriff Bob Garvey of Hampshire County originally came up with the idea to do (iris recognition)," said Kevin O'Reilly, communications director with the CHILD Project. "He had used iris technology in his correctional facility."
Hampshire County is also part of the CHILD Project, O'Reilly said.
The CHILD Project and its applications have morphed into a new company called Biometric Intelligence and Identification Technologies, BI2, in Plymouth, a seven-person high-tech firm that specializes in iris-recognition applications. The company also has a project called SeniorSafteyNet for older adults.
Two years ago, the founder of the CHILD Project, Sean Mullin, cited U.S. Justice Department studies that showed 2,000 children nationwide are reported missing every day.
The disappearance and recent discovery of Shawn Hornbeck, now 15, after four years highlights the need for such a system, said Paul Fleming, a spokesman for Middleton Jail.
Hornbeck was held captive by 41-year-old Michael Devlin, and his discovery only came to light when authorities went to rescue another child, Ben Ownby, 13, from Devlin's apartment in a St. Louis, Mo., suburb, according to The Associated Press. Ownby had been abducted four days earlier.
"(Hornbeck) had actually been picked up by the police and let go," O'Reilly said. "He was afraid to say who he was. If he had been picked up and been in the system, it would have taken them five seconds to identify him. It's pretty cool technology, and it can all be done via the Web," meaning the database can be accessed from anywhere.
Iris recognition, sheriffs in southeastern Massachusetts said, would work in conjunction with fingerprint and child photo programs and be a quick, nonintrusive method to capture and quickly identify a child if found. O'Reilly said it can take five weeks to come up with a fingerprint match, while iris recognition works in seconds.
"That information (the iris scan) would be stored in a national database," Fleming said. "If a child is abducted or missing, that information would be used to find a missing child."
Details of the new iris-scan system, such as which national database might be used to store the scans, would become final once the company is picked.
The CHILD Project is in 25 states now, O'Reilly said, and was installed in two counties in Wisconsin last week.
Once the sheriffs get the technology, they make it part of their public safety outreach, O'Reilly said.
Middleton Jail has already gone high-tech when it comes to using facial recognition software, a move separate from iris scans. In April 2005, Essex County police departments and law enforcement officials began to use facial recognition software by Billerica-based Viisage Technology Inc. through a $200,000 grant from the federal government.
Facial recognition technology has drawn fire from the American Civil Liberties Union over privacy concerns.
Fleming said he understand there could be similar concerns about the storage of iris scans.
"It would be done on a voluntary basis," Fleming said. "By no means would people be forced to do this or compelled to do this, absolutely not."
Companies have until 2 p.m. on Feb. 15 to submit bids to create an "iris biometric identification program" for the Massachusetts Sheriff's Association.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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