This January, a daily newspaper in India reported that Kerala police stations will soon be able to gather fingerprints and iris scans. The data collected by the individual police stations will also be sent to a state-wide database.

Under a new government program, fingerprint services and iris scanners will be issued to the 482 police stations in Kerala.  Thanks to the CCTNS program, investigators will be better equipped to examine crime patterns, evidence, and other pertinent information about suspects.

These developments will prove to be great assets to law enforcement in Kerala because today, the police stations operate almost separately.  Different stations are unable to share information with each other because there is no central data storage location.  This makes it difficult for different law enforcement officers to communicate with one another and gather all necessary information about a crime or criminal.  The government hopes that in making these changes, this communication problem will be solved.

Although the new system is mainly intended for law enforcement officials, it will also be available, in a limited sense, to the public.  For instance, individuals will be able to search the status of petitions, missing persons, and stolen vehicles.  The system will also give individuals the ability to request fingerprint background checks on tenants or employees.