Stung By Escapes from Court, NYPD Now Uses Eye Scans to ID Defendants
Following several embarrassing incidents in which prisoners walked out of New York courts–one involving an inmate who successfully pretended to be a lawyer–a new policy has been put in place requiring guards to match defendants to scans of the irises in their eyes.
However, the new technology has been criticized by defense lawyers and civil libertarians as an unauthorized invasion of prisoners’ privacy, reports the New York Times.
Not true, says spokesman Paul Browne of the New York Police Department. It has been advised that the scans are the same as photographs, and, like mug shots, are destroyed if arrests are sealed, he explains.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: ” ‘Lawyer’ Who Fled Court is Recaptured; Now Real Attorneys Must Show ID”
ABAJournal.com: “Inmate Allegedly Assumed Fake ID at Arraignment to Escape Court Hearing”
