CPD uses new technology to catch fake IDs
The scanner can detect both fake IDs and altered real ones.
Published April 23, 2010
Patrons at downtown bars are being carded at a whole new level. Police officers downtown have been equipped with small body cameras for several months, Columbia Police Department spokeswoman Jessie Haden said. Those officers also share an ID scanner that can catch fraudulent identification.
Haden said the body cameras are called "lapel cameras" because they attach to the lapels on an officer's uniform.
Because downtown beat officers are often on foot, they do not have the advantage of the cameras officers in patrol cars have. Haden said the lapel cameras help solve that problem.
"If an officer is just out on foot patrol and they're not in a car, they don't have that," she said. "The body cameras allow them to have cameras that aren't stationary and attached to a vehicle."
CPD purchased the Scorpion Micro DV-Video Audio Recorder from Law Enforcement Associates Inc. According to the company's website, the cameras cost $125 each.
CPD Sgt. Chris Kelley said all officers assigned to the downtown area have the cameras. This means six officers and one sergeant have the equipment. Officers activate the cameras every time they are likely to take enforcement action, the same way cameras in patrol cars are activated.
"It's a checks and balance system, is the way I look at it," Kelley said. "It protects the officer and it protects the citizen."
Footage from the cameras is downloaded to a computer and saved for a required amount of time before it is destroyed, unless it is used as evidence in a case. In that situation, the footage would be converted to another digital media form, like a DVD.
The downtown unit has one ID scanner that was purchased with grant money, Kelley said.
Haden said the ID scanner is equipped with a technology that can be used by bartenders and bouncers in the downtown area.
"Every year, the Department of Transportation puts out an ID guide with what to look for when people present identification," Haden said. "It's just a way to make it simpler. This way you don't have to get the book out and memorize it."
The scanner can detect false identification or real IDs that have been altered but not borrowed IDs.
"What we know is that most IDs we run into, and this is a nation-wide trend, most of them are borrowed IDs," Kelley said.
Downtown officers also look at the pictures on IDs to see if the person in possession of the ID has the same facial structure as the person in the photograph. Officers look for similar eyes, noses and foreheads, Kelley said.
Officers also ask questions the person in possession of the ID should know quickly.
Sophomore Jimmy Sgroi, whose band plays in bars downtown, said he did not know CPD officers were using the new tools. He said the ID scanner seemed reasonable to use, but had questions about the cameras.
"If they have it on their person, they should make the public aware of that," he said.
Haden said purchasing more ID scanners would be a best-case scenario, but the department isn't actively pursuing it.
"In an ideal world, they would, but it's a matter of cost," she said. "It's certainly something we'd like to see in the future. I just don't think it's realistic to think we could do it now."