News

BlueBear to sell background-check kiosks to police

June 22, 2005

OTTAWA, Ontario - BlueBear Network International Inc. announced in a June 23 news release that it has reached an OEM/Reseller Agreement with Smiths Heimann Biometrics, giving it the tools needed to provide identity-verified background checks to its law-enforcement customers.

With Smiths Heimann products, BlueBear plans to offer finger- and palm-canning technology fully integrated with its Integrated Digital Law Enforcement application. In addition, BlueBear can start providing its police customers with a self-service kiosk for performing civil background checks that can biometrically verify the identity of the individual requesting the check.

"This agreement is very important to BlueBear - we can now provide customers with top quality, robust scanners and have in place all the pieces we need to deliver effective background checks," said Andrew Brewin, president and chief executive of BlueBear.

Background checks involve searches of a variety of secure systems. Before the BlueBear solution, these checks relied upon the subject of the check to provide correct name, date of birth and, where permitted by law, other ID such as Social Security numbers.

Using BlueBear technology, integrated with the Smiths Heimann fingerprint and palm scanners, police can verify the identity of the individual prior to conducting searches.

Those same searches often result in secondary searches that require full 10-finger cards being submitted to central agencies like the FBI or RCMP. Often, individuals need to go to a different location to get approved finger-print forms, resulting in long delays before the check is completed.

The BlueBear solution, using Smiths Heimann scanners, means all information is gathered at one time, and in many cases, a clearance certificate can be issued on-the-spot.