Facial recognition is increasingly being deployed to tighten security, improve authentication, and streamline payment and retail transactions. But an ordinance in San Francisco — the first of its kind — would ban its use by city government, potentially restricting police from using evidence gained from the biometric tool.

UK police are nearing a full evaluation of their biometric ID technology after the latest test in a series of facial recognition trials conducted using video surveillance systems. The most recent test successfully identified suspects during the holiday shopping season.

2018 Women in Biometrics Award winner Lisa MacDonald serves as Director of Identity Capabilities Management Division, DHS Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM). But MacDonald didn’t know how to spell biometrics when she stumbled into the industry. “I was an English major; I have a Master’s in Public Administration,” MacDonald says. “I did come to […]

For 2018 Women in Biometrics Award winner Kelly Gallagher, there’s nothing like solving a case. “In the early years when I was a crime scene tech, I would get so excited when I knew I made an identification and I was able to help that family or even company solve their crime,” Gallagher says. “My […]

Liane Moriyama retired last summer as Administrator of the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center and she is honored for her innovative career as a 2017 winner of the Women in Biometrics awards. She was instrumental in bringing the first AFIS to Hawaii and helping other states to follow suit. But it is her crossover between the use of biometrics for law enforcement and its use to protect vulnerable populations that defines her most significant contributions.

Creator of the FBI’s Biometric Center for Excellence and Deputy Assistant Director of the Information Services Branch of CJIS, Kimberly Del Greco is a go to biometrics lead for the Federal government. She was instrumental in the Next Generation Identification Program that redefined algorithms and modalities to increase the agency’s biometric match rates and image quality.

A new AFIS system helped solve a decades old crime in Florida, hinting to a future where advancing technology makes it tough for criminals to hide. Biometrics are improving at a Moore’s Law pace and the future looks good for law enforcement and grim for the bad guys.

JoAnn Buscaglia began her career in biometrics through forensic science research and development. In the early 2000s, she served as a research chemist in the FBI’s Laboratory Counterterrorism and Forensic Science Research Unit. While there, she assisted with latent fingerprint research to develop quantitative measurements and assess the scientific basis of identification conclusions in order to address court admissibility challenges to the discipline.

Michelle Meder’s career in biometrics began in her hometown of Clarksburg, W.V. when she was hired by the FBI in 1994. She quickly moved from mail and file clerk to fingerprint examiner. She’s now a supervisory management and program analyst in the FBI’s Latent and Forensic Support Unit, managing the Next Generation Identification System’s automated latent investigative services.

Meet the first of eight finalists for the 2016 Women in Biometrics Awards: Liane Moriyama, administrator, Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center. Moriyama has more than 20-years experience in biometrics and helped bring the first AFIS system to Hawaii.