A federal grant has allowed DuPage County to become the first sheriff's office in the state to employ iris recognition technology to track sex offenders.
The $11,000 grant of a federally funded IRIS Biometric System from the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) was announced last week by DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba.
The grant will enable the DuPage County Sheriff's office to be the first in the State of Illinois to use IRIS recognition biometric technology to identify, register and track convicted sex offenders.
"As sworn law enforcement officers, we do everything we can each day to protect the citizens of our communities, particularly those most vulnerable like our children and seniors," DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba said. "We constantly strive to embrace new and proven techniques and technologies to improve public safety. Iris biometric technology is an excellent example of this innovation. With this grant we will be able to expand our capabilities at no cost to the taxpayers of DuPage County."
Once a high-resolution photo of a person's eyes are taken and put into a database, that person can be tracked using their iris and identified later from any other location. The iris system can be used to positively identify someone who might not be providing their real identity.
The technology also has uses when lost children or people who have forgotten their identity are found.
