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Police get instant background check on subjects they stop
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin got fingerprinted to help area police demonstrate the long arm of the law's technological reach.
Levin, D-Royal Oak, who represents most of Macomb County, joined more than a dozen law enforcement officers in Ferndale on Thursday to demonstrate a wireless fingerprinting device that many police departments are beginning to use in their patrol cars.
Levin pressed the tip of each index finger to the small device, which was handled by Ferndale police officer Doug Spellman. The fingerprints entered in the portable electronic box — called LiveID — are processed through a database operated by Oakland County's Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System.
The system contains background information on known criminal offenders.
"Fortunately for the good people of Michigan you are clean," Spellman jokingly told Levin after processing his fingerprints.
Levin has helped steer about $1.9 million in federal grants to CLEMIS over the past two years. The grants have helped CLEMIS, headed by Joseph Sullivan in Oakland County, implement cutting-edge technology for law enforcement officials in 100 departments throughout Oakland, Macomb, Wayne, Washtenaw, Genesee and Livingston counties.
"These tools are available throughout the region so that all these jurisdictions can communicate," Levin said.
Police from Warren, Ferndale, Berkley, Madison Heights, Detroit Metropolitan Airport and a half-dozen other jurisdictions were on hand Thursday to talk about CLEMIS technology with Levin.
The technology, which includes immediate access to criminal fingerprints and various legal records, allows patrol officers to stay on the street where they are needed, Ferndale police Chief Michael Kitchen said.
"It allows our officers to perform a myriad of duties in their cars," he said.
Madison Heights police Chief Kevin Sagan noted that CLEMIS technology has created greater communication and cooperation among scores of police departments in southeast Michigan.
"CLEMIS has brought everybody into the room, so to speak," Sagan said.
In a statement before the event, Levin said local law enforcement has been at the forefront of efforts to collaborate through CLEMIS and pool resources.
"By utilizing the latest technology, CLEMIS has given law enforcement officials the tools to collect more evidence, share information more broadly, and solve more crimes," he said.
About 50 of the LiveID wireless fingerprint devices are in use by police throughout the region and Sullivan said another 250 of them will be in use by the end of this year.
"They cost about $1,800 each and draw information from 110 law enforcement agencies," Sullivan said.
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