Viisage Technology system to aid investigations

JULY 31--Viisage Technology Inc. (Littleton, MA; www.viisage.com) has been awarded a $2.7 million contract to provide the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Florida with face-recognition technology to aid investigations and to provide an inmate-booking system integrated with face-recognition technology. Working with the Sheriff's Department, Viisage also will be responsible for providing equipment for the project, valued at an additional $400,000.

The project will include the design, development, and implementation of a scalable face-recognition image-capture system to meet the operational needs of law-enforcement agencies throughout Pinellas County, as well as additional law-enforcement agencies in Florida. The system will assist in the positive identification of criminal suspects and will assist the Corrections Staff with inmate identification at the time of booking and at the time of release.

Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice said, "After evaluating a number of alternatives, we concluded that Viisage has the technology and the capability that best meets our needs in the corrections setting and as a tool in criminal investigations."