Biometrics for Government & Law Enforcement Library

Interested in seeing who attended the IDGA Biometrics for Government and Law Enforcement Summit in 2024? Take a look at the attendee snapshot, featuring the companies, military leaders, and government officials who joined us in 2024, many of whom are expected to return in 2025!

While the average person is accustomed to using biometric technologies in airports, banks, and hospitals and to access their smartphones, one place we rarely think of needing biometric identification solutions is in correctional institutions. However, as biometrics have become more widely used in our everyday lives, they are also becoming a key resource to the US carceral system.

Whether as a resource to monitor prisoner and staff activities, assist release procedures, identify visitors, or improve inmate health and wellness, biometrics are used in correctional facilities.

This report will look at each of those uses, analyze the latest news in correctional biometrics, and assess how biometrics are beginning to have an impact on inmate safety.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states the core uses of biometrics are for identity assurance, meaning the ability to verify an individual’s identity for the US government, and quality of life and security, meaning protecting US citizen's personal identities and safety.

In this article, we will explore the organizations within DHS overseeing biometrics tools to deliver on these core uses. Those organizations include:

• Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM)
• Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
• Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
• US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

While ground-breaking biometric technologies can help catch criminals and prevent terrorism attacks, biometric solutions still have many unsolved questions. One of which is how international entities plan to collaborate and share the biometric information they collect. For Dr. Brian Plastow (Scottish Biometrics Commissioner) and Tony Eastaugh (Biometrics & Surveillance Camera Commissioner for the UK Home Office), this is a question they are already beginning to address.

In their respective roles both men are constantly communicating and collaborating with other biometrics leaders across the UK. IDGA sat down with the these two to discuss that very topic, as well as:

• Ethical uses of biometrics
• The short-term future of biometrics in the UK
• What Dr. Plastow and Eastaugh hope attendees gain from attending the Biometrics for Government and Law Enforcement Summit

Watch Matt Gilkeson of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Evan Bays of IDEMIA as they discuss how to bring security and transparency to the AI used in biometric algorithms.

By watching the webinar you'll gain the following:

• An overview of DHS and IDEMIA's commitment to developing fair and ethical technologies
• Case studies sharing real-world improvements to AI algorithms
• An understanding of AI security and regulatory requirements