Jones County Deputies Using New Technology to Identify People on the Spot

GRAY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Jones County deputies are sporting some new technology that’s helping them identify criminals within seconds.

They’re using a finger print scanning system called Rapid ID.

Deputies ask a for a person’s name, type it in, and then they take prints from two different fingers.  The hand-held machine then runs through state and federal databases to help deputies find out who they’re actually dealing with based on the prints and not just a name.

“In the two months we’ve had eight people that we’ve determined have been wanted somewhere, and some of them have given wrong names. Talking to people, occasionally the deputies will ask, “What’s your name?” and they’ll slip up and give a different name each time, and you know something’s up, and it makes it hard to identify them… This just makes it easire for us to identify,” said Sheriff Butch Reece, Jones County.

The machines also allow deputies to take pictures of people.

Reece says his office bought two scanners for $3500 each. They used confiscated drug money to make the purchases.