http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/116747125582830.xml&coll=2Saturday, December 30, 2006
Associated Press
Batavia -- With the swipe of a driver's license through a handheld scanner, Clermont County authorities can quickly determine whether the holder has outstanding warrants, is on a terrorist watch list or is using a fake ID...
"We have used them in several of the DUI checkpoints," said Deputy Rob Cordes, who is point man for the Sheriff's Office in a pilot program to test the device, developed by Mobilisa, a Port Townsend, Wash.-based company. Developed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mobilisa identification scanners are already in use at some military installations...
The scanners are faster than typing information into a laptop computer in a patrol car to check out a suspect via the National Crime Information Center, and they cross-check data from more than 140 sources, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
Besides reading driver's licenses, the device can scan bar codes or magnetic strips on state-issued ID cards, military and other government IDs, and passports. The device includes a digital camera, so deputies can photograph suspects, license plates, weapons or other items that might be used as evidence.