June 19, 2005

By Rita Hoover

Kane County Sheriff Ken Ramsey unveiled Friday new technology that he hopes will help locate and identify missing children in the blink of an eye.

The $25,000 system, called iris recognition biometric technology, quickly takes a digital photograph of an eye.

It was acquired with the help of a Massachusetts-based organization, The CHILD Project, a new not-for-profit organization that works with the Nation's Missing Children Organization (NMCO) to create a national database for law enforcement officials.

"We're very pleased to be the first sheriff's office in the Midwest and the third in the nation to utilize this cutting-edge technology," Ramsey said.

While the iris recognition system is reportedly far more accurate and faster than fingerprints--detecting a match within seconds instead of days--it is meant to complement, not replace, fingerprinting and DNA swabbing, said Peter Flynn, senior consultant with The Project.

Iris identification is "the most accurate of the biometrics," said Philip Youn, a consultant with the International Biometric Group, an independent consulting firm that services government and private sector clients.

Other types of biometrics include fingerprint, facial recognition, hand geometry, retina-scan and voice recognition.