Re: But does it actually save time?
"A quick finger print check and ten minutes later, and the subject is issued with a summons for three offences"
The way the system is currently setup the fingerprint check will only tell that the person is not already in the system (ie: Known and wanted.)
About the best use for this is dealing with people who give false names/IDs when questioned at the roadside because they're wanted for other things (there are some locations/situations you must provide ID to the police - a wharf, when driving a car and a few others. For the rest you're legally allowed to decline to do so)
At best it's an elimination tool (which may be useful in any case). There are too many false positives to work the other way around.
I'm not entirely sure why this is a news story. These things have been in use by traffic police for over a decade. The bigger deal is how secured they are and what they're actually comparing, which isn't gone into at all.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
