NYPD Gets High-Tech Upgrade with New Portable Fingerprint Scanner

The NYPD is armed with a portable gizmo that allows cops to immediately confirm identities at crime scenes with the roll of a thumb...If the NYPD's use of the devices becomes more widespread, the city may run into a challenge by civil libertarians. "We hope these machines will promote crime-scene identification and reduce mistaken-identity arrests," said Chris Dunn, the NYCLU's associate legal director. "But I worry they will make it far too easy for the police to take and keep fingerprints and photos of law-abiding people."