Mesa police tout mobile print scans

Mesa Police violate people's rights with mobile fingerprint scans???

I refuse to tell the police my name and certainly would refuse to give them my fingerprints if they asked.

With that in mind how will the Mesa police deal with that problem? When people refuse to let the cops take their fingerprints.

I suspect the Mesa police will use physical force to illegally force the people to give them their fingerprints. Probably violating the persons 4th and 5th Amendment rights.

And of course when they do find someone with a warrant out for their arrests as a result of a forced fingerprinting, the cops will commit perjury, or testilying as the police call it and say the people agreed to let them take the fingerprints.

When I was stopped by the Mesa police they refused to honor my request to take the 5th and refuse to tell them my name. The continually lied to me and said I didn't have any 5th Amendment rights and had to answer their questions.

I suspect if they had their fingerprint machines back then they would have used physical force to make me give them my fingerprints.

Source

Mesa police tout mobile print scans

By Gary Nelson The Republic | azcentral.com Mon Jan 14, 2013 8:19 AM

As Mesa police officers talked last week about their newest whiz-bang technology, Mayor Scott Smith couldn’t help thinking about an old movie.

“It reminds me of the time I saw a girl passed out in an alleyway, and the police came and did a retina scan” to figure out who she was, he said. “Oh, wait — that was ‘Back to the Future II.’ ”

The cops weren’t demonstrating retina scans during Thursday’s City Council study session. They were demonstrating fingerprint scans — on the council members themselves. Evidently, the council has no outstanding warrants; no one was hauled away in handcuffs.

But Mesa police spokesman Sgt. Tony Landato said that has happened on the streets since the department began using six scanners in a pilot program during last Fourth of July weekend.

Now the department is buying 30 more, pending council permission.

The cost is a bit over $53,000, $50,000 of which is from a federal grant under auspices of the 2009 federal stimulus package.

The payback, Landato said, is in better use of officers’ time and more efficient apprehension of crooks.

“It’s pretty common practice for a bad guy not to carry any ID or at least not let us know that they have any on them,” Landato said. “So when we’re trying to sort through what we have, this is a great tool that allows us to take care of it right there. The turnaround time is one to two minutes.” [Translation - if they don't have any ID we are going to force them to give us their fingerprints so we can find out who they are. Of course that is a violation of their 4th and 5th Amendment rights but cops never get arrested for breaking the law]

If it turns out the person isn’t wanted by police, the matter can be dropped right there, as opposed to taking a subject to the station to clear things up.

In one recent case, Landato said, police responded to a domestic-violence call where the alleged abuser had fled.

“We set up a perimeter,” Landato said. “Our officers stopped a subject who matched the description who was acting very suspicious. ... We ran his fingerprint. It was not our suspect in the domestic violence. It was a homicide suspect,” who was arrested.

In another case, he said, Phoenix police used a scanner to identify the victim of a fatal crash who was still trapped in a mangled car.

Landato said people sometimes ask him whether there’s a “Big Brother” element in the scanners, but he said the machines are not collecting data on citizens. They compare only a person’s fingerprint with those already on file with the state police, although that capacity soon may be expanded to include federal databases.

“None of this information is saved,” Landato said. “This isn’t documented any more than the stop itself.” [Why don't I believe that????]

The state fingerprint database includes every print for at least the last 15 years, and fingerprints taken in Mesa go further back than that; the city’s entire print inventory has been transferred to the electronic archive. [Which is why I don't believe the last statement. The cop want to add every fingerprint they take to their database]

Councilman Alex Finter said the technology offers what former Police Chief George Gascón called a “force-multiplying effect,” keeping officers in the field instead of pulling them back to headquarters for suspect ID checks. [If a person refuses to cooperate and help the police identify them it is illegal for the police to force them do do so. And arresting a person who refuses, to take them downtown in an attempt to id them is certainly a violation of their constitutional rights]

“It sounds like a great opportunity to make the best use of our people,” Finter said.

The next step, Landato said, will be scanners that can identify latent prints at a crime scene.

“You can imagine how helpful that would be to an investigation,” he said. “Instead of a day or two, we’re getting it on the spot. We can go track down the suspect before they have time to get rid of the evidence or come up with an alibi or flee. We will be the only department using that when it comes.”

Assistant Police Chief John Meza said Mesa is one of the first agencies in the state to embrace the concept on a large scale. “It’s really a cutting-edge technology in law enforcement,” he said.

And, it’s on hand two years earlier than 2015, when the “future” part of Michael J. Fox’s famous movie was set.

Still, Smith suggested technology hasn’t advanced as far as he had hoped.

“We just don’t have hover skateboards yet,” he said.

Cops have hand held fingerprinting machines to ID you

I was falsely arrested on June 25, 2013 in Chandler and videotaped about 9 minutes of the false arrest. In the video at this URL http://tinyurl.com/chandlerarrest you can Chandler piggy G Pederson telling me that I didn't have any stinking 5th Amendment rights in that case after I mentioned that in Miranda v Arizona the Supremes said that when a person takes the 5th the police must "immediately cease questioning" the person.

Source

Valley police departments utiliizing digital fingerprinting

By Michelle Mitchell The Republic | azcentral.com Mon Jul 8, 2013 11:22 PM

A hand-held device that resembles a cellphone and taps fingerprint databases to help police officers identify people in the field is catching on with several departments in the Valley.

Officers say the devices are a valuable tool — particularly when they encounter people who aren’t carrying ID cards or who give false information.

“With these finger scanners ... you’re talking less than a minute (and) you know who you’re dealing with,” Chandler Sgt. Joe Favazzo said.

“The safety factor and the time-saving factors are just amazing.”

Not everyone is as sold on them, however, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which has voiced privacy concerns.

The devices also raise concerns about identity theft and how that personal information is stored and transferred, particularly if a person is not charged with a crime, said Alessandra Soler, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona.

The devices are not designed to store fingerprint data — although they could be modified to do that — but to transfer the information through the officer’s existing in-car computer system, said Robert Horton, spokesman for manufacturer MorphoTrak.

Police departments in Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix began a pilot program last year using the MorphoTrak scanners.

Tempe and Mesa have now expanded those pilot programs.

“We were sold on how fantastic they are,” Tempe Police Sgt. Mike Pooley said.

“It gives us a very quick response.”

Tempe had 14 scanners during the pilot and recently purchased 30 more.

Other departments have signed on, including Chandler, which bought 36 scanners; Scottsdale, which purchased 10, and Peoria, which bought five as a trial.

Chandler police skipped a smaller-scale pilot after hearing about their effectiveness from Mesa police officers through the East Valley Gang and Criminal Information Fusion Center, Favazzo said.

The cost of the scanners varies, but Valley cities paid about $1,200 to $1,800 per unit.

The devices allow officers in the field to scan a person’s fingerprints and compare them to local, state and federal databases.

The scanners will save officers time when someone does not have identification or provides false information, Favazzo said.

Without these devices, officers run variations of the name and birth date provided in an attempt to locate a driver’s license, warrant or other information about the person, Favazzo said.

If that does not work, officers will take the person to the station, [i.e. -falsely arrest them and make them prove they are not a criminal before releasing them] fingerprint them and wait for identity information.

“It will also let us know right away if we are dealing with a violent felon before we ever transport them,” Favazzo said.

The Tempe Police Department recently discovered by using the mobile fingerprint scanner that a man they had encountered was wanted by the FBI, Pooley said.

“We would have ended up letting this guy go,” he said.

Police departments find that the devices save them money by not having to transport people to the station and that they act as a force multiplier by keeping officers on the street, MorphoTrak’s Horton said.

The device will scan two fingerprints and the officer will receive a response in 30 seconds to several minutes, he said.

The Phoenix Police Department, which received three scanners last year as part of a pilot program, still is evaluating whether to expand the program, Sgt. Tommy Thompson said.

“Obviously as technology advances, we want to be involved in those advances, but we want to make sure they meet our needs and they’re a useful tool,” Thompson said.

Officers say they are sensitive to privacy concerns expressed by the ACLU. [Yea, sure. Like in my case where I am always told I don't have any stinking 5th Amendment right to refuse police questioning, which is almost always followed by an illegal search of my wallet in which the cop is hoping to find my ID]

Mesa officers are not trying to collect personal information, Sgt. Tony Landato said. [That's 100 percent BS. That is the WHOLE purpose of the fingerprint scanners - to get person information about the person - i.e. name and date of birth so the cops can search for outstanding warrants]

“We’re not taking a census,” Landato said. “We’re just trying to ensure the accuracy of the information that we’re taking down.

“If we can do this in a way that’s quicker for the officer and quicker for the citizen, then, hey, we both win.”

The state and FBI fingerprint databases that the scanners check do not contain citizenship or immigration-status information, although that could be possible in the future if the scanners are connected to Department of Homeland Security databases, Horton said.

The state ACLU’s Soler said departments should create policies that inform people who are not under arrest that they have the right to refuse submitting their fingerprints. [Yea, sure. Like I am always lied to by the police and told I don't have any 5th Amendment right to refuse to answer police questions]

“It’s critical that we think about these things before rolling out these new high-tech systems, and more often than not that doesn’t happen,” she said. “In this day and age when the technology so far outpaces the privacy laws, the individuals end up giving up a lot in terms of their privacy.”

The use of fingerprint scanners falls under existing Mesa Police Department policy, Landato said.

“We’re not going to fingerprint somebody unless we’ve got them under arrest or we have their consent,” he said. [Yea, I'm am 100 percent positive that is a big lie!!!!! I was also falsely arrested by the Mesa Police who also told me I didn't have any stinking 5th Amendment rights. See false arrest by Mesa Police and lawsuit against Mesa Police]

Tempe police are writing a policy that would require officers to get consent from a person who is not under arrest, Pooley said. [Yea, sure. I also sure the Tempe for false arrest]

“Right now, there’s no authority that can compel a person to put their fingers on one of these gadgets, short of them being arrested,” said Sigmund Popko, clinical professor of law at Arizona State University. [Rubbish, what are you going to do when a cop with a gun and a badge forces you to give him your fingerprints??? Resist and be killed????]

While drivers are required to provide a license if they are pulled over, a passenger or pedestrian who is not in violation of a law would not be required to provide identification or fingerprints, said attorney John Phebus, vice chair of the criminal-justice section of the State Bar of Arizona. [Of course the police routinely lie to these people and tell them they are required to]

“Most people don’t know you can say no,” Phebus said. “When you’re in that moment, it’s awful hard to say no.”

Reach the reporter at michelle .mitchell@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-7983.

RELATED INFO

Handheld, mobile fingerprint scanners About the scanner

What it does: The MorphoIDent handheld device scans a person’s fingerprints and transfers the information to a police officer’s phone or computer via Bluetooth or USB. It compares prints with state and federal fingerprint databases and reports a name and date of birth if a match is found.

Manufacturer: MorphoTrak, based in Alexandria, Va.

Cost: Varies, but Valley departments have paid $1,200 to $1,800 per device.

Dimensions: About 5 inches by 3 inches. Weight is about 5 ounces.

Who’s using the devices

Several Valley police departments are testing or using handheld, mobile fingerprint scanners:.

Chandler: 36 scanners, expected to be in use by August.

Glendale: 2 scanners (pilot), not yet deployed.

Tempe: 44 scanners, 14 currently in use.

Peoria: 5 scanners (pilot), purchased two months ago, not yet deployed.

Phoenix: 3 scanners (pilot), in use since the fall.

Scottsdale: 10 scanners, expected to be in use by late July.