Sheriff’s Office Launches Biometric System

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — County corrections officials here launched a monitoring system that uses biometric technology to track convicted sex offenders.


The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Department teamed up with Biometric Intelligence & Identification Technologies, of Plymouth, Mass., to develop the Sex Offender Registry and Identification System, which uses iris recognition technology to positively identify convicted predators. Mecklenburg is the first county in the United States to use the system, according to reports.


Using a high-resolution camera, the SORIS system takes a digitally encrypted photograph of a person’s iris, creating a unique iris code for each individual entered in the recognition database.


Once an offender has been enrolled in the national database, their identity and location can be verified almost immediately from any participating agency.


Iridian Technologies Inc., based in Moorestown, N.J., developed the iris recognition technology for the SORIS system, using iris readers provided by Panasonic Security Systems.