French Special Gendarmerie Team Deploys Integrated Biometrics’ Fingerprint Scanners for Disaster Identification

Spartanburg, SC – 22 September 2020 — Integrated Biometrics (IB), the world leader in mobile, FBI-certified biometric fingerprint scanners, revealed today that its Watson Mini has been selected by the branch of the French Gendarmerie National responsible for identifying victims of natural disasters, aircraft crashes, traffic accidents, and terrorist attacks. This group, known as the Disaster Victim Identification Squad (DVI), is part of the Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale (IRCGN – Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie) and has conducted more than 80 identification missions since 1992.

The DVI team conducted extensive testing of a variety of biometric identification products and technologies to determine which was accurate, reliable and durable enough to be included as a permanent part of their official Fingerprint Toolkit. Only the Watson Mini met the necessary requirements.

It is absolutely essential for us to use devices that can deliver high quality images quickly and do so in all types of conditions. By responding to all of these requirements, the Watson Mini has earned its place in our DVI toolkit.– Major Laurent Tamisier

“The IRCGN’s ‘Fingerprints’ service is regularly involved in victim identification missions (DVI), in a wide variety of contexts, including natural disasters, aircraft crashes but also terrorist attacks,” said Major Laurent Tamisier of the DVI team. “The identification of victims is a major issue and must be done as quickly as possible to meet the legitimate expectations of families and authorities. The evolution of traditional post-mortem fingerprinting methods towards a biometric capture system allows us to meet this strong demand for rapid and reliable identification.”

Their report, published in the Journal of Forensic Identification, praises the IB Light Emitting Sensor (LES) film; “…this new technology uses an electroluminescent film that creates the fingerprint image. These sensors were designed to work under extreme conditions, similar to the DVI situations. Traditional, optical, capacitive, or ultrasonic sensors were discarded because their ergonomics and their low efficiency on soiled fingers did not fit with use on postmortem chain of identification.” The report shows the IB Watson Mini delivering high-quality fingerprint matches four to twelve times faster than older methods and mentions the device’s highly intuitive interface.

Major Tamisier went on to say that, “It is absolutely essential for us to use devices that can deliver high quality images quickly and do so in all types of conditions. By responding to all of these requirements, the Watson Mini has earned its place in our DVI toolkit. ”

The tragic events investigated by the DVI regularly capture the attention of the nation and the world. This unique area of Gendarmerie work demands systems and techniques to quickly provide vital answers about criminal or terrorist involvement, aircraft equipment failure, and other incident factors, but must also consider and help address the needs of families and loved ones.

“In the aftermath of these kinds of heartbreaking events, victim identification is the first and highest priority, both for the needs of the families and the investigators,” said David Gerulski, Executive Vice President for IB. “This report offers all of us at IB a real feeling of accomplishment, as it demonstrates the ways our technology enables professionals to do such grievous work under extraordinarily challenging conditions.”

About Integrated Biometrics

Integrated Biometrics, LLC designs and manufactures FBI-certified fingerprint sensors for law enforcement, military operations, homeland security, national identity, election validation, social services, and a wide range of commercial applications. The company’s patented light emitting sensor technology enables lightweight scanners that outperform traditional prism-based devices in size, power consumption, portability, and reliability. Identity management solutions providers, government agencies, and corporations around the world rely on Integrated Biometrics’ products to enroll and verify individual identity quickly and accurately, even in remote locations.