MorphoTrak, a subsidiary of Safran Identity & Security, together with the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), announced the successful operational deployment of MorphoBIS in the Cloud, the flagship offer of the MorphoCloud platform.
The announcement opens a new era for the APD as the first law enforcement agency to implement an automated biometric identification system (ABIS) in the cloud. It is a milestone for MorphoTrak and the biometric industry as well, marking the world’s first deployment of a criminal ABIS system in a secure commercial cloud environment.
Scientists at the Albuquerque Police Metropolitan Forensics Science Centerare able to focus their efforts on the primary mission such as latent examination, suspect identification and verification, using the latest workstations securely connected to the MorphoCloud. The MorphoCloud provides APD with the latest ABIS functionality available today in a highly scalable and secure architecture.
True Software-as-a-Service is new to the criminal justice biometric identification market, and MorphoTrak and the APD addressed concerns about security and data integrity early in the design stage. The APD MorphoCloud is hosted on Microsoft Azure Government, a cloud platform designed to meet strict U.S. government standards for physical and information security.
Allan Armenta, APD Systems Analyst, stated that with the ABIS being hosted in the cloud, more staff hours can be devoted to law enforcement projects. This opens opportunities to leverage other components inherent in cloud computing such as scalability and disaster recovery.
Kris Rubi, APD Forensic Scientist, noted, "MorphoCloud allows for increased matching speeds and we are hitting on lower quality prints. The new ABIS allows us greater case management and organization. MorphoTrak has been very attentive to our needs and with the system in the cloud, they have been able to meet our demands in a more efficient manner."
The APD will benefit from another MorphoCloud first – continuous updates. In a significant innovation over the traditional software life cycle, MorphoTrak applies updates to the system on a continual basis. The APD will always have the latest, most advanced version of MorphoBIS including advances in our core algorithms, without the disruption that typically accompanies a major upgrade. In a similar vein, MorphoCloud will allow the APD to expand its system as needed, without the financial demands of new hardware, costly integration, and extensive testing.
Celeste Thomasson, MorphoTrak President and CEO, commented, "We are pleased to be standing with the Albuquerque Police Department on the horizon of cloud adoption in law enforcement. We share a dedication to the public safety mission and are proud to offer a portal to sophisticated crime-solving software and a secure repository for sensitive data that will keep the APD at the forefront of the nation’s public safety organizations."
