New Police Scanner Raises “Facial Profiling” Concerns

A new hand-held device that will allow police officers to scan a suspect’s face, irises, or fingerprints and instantly identify him or her is raising concerns among privacy advocates. The Mobile Offender Recognition Information System (MORIS) is a small attachment that turns an iPhone into a biometric scanner. MORIS does not save the photo but keeps it long enough to determine whether the suspect’s iris matches any in a national database of people who have been arrested before and whose information is in the database. According to a National Public Radio report, about 40 counties nationwide are set to get about 1,000 of the devices beginning in September. It is not known if any Connecticut towns are among them.