Biometric Devices Help New Jersey County Track Delivery of Homeless Services (fingerprint readers)

[The Straight Story]

Biometric Devices Help New Jersey County Track Delivery of Homeless Services

Bergen County, N.J., has dealt with one particular dilemma for years: The Department of Human Services (DHS) needs to estimate how many homeless individuals receive services, such as food, medicine and shelter. But many people served by the department don’t have accurate forms of identification....

Now with biometrics technology, Bergen County has implemented a solution that helps the DHS keep an accurate count of the homeless people who receive social services. In September, the DHS unveiled a fingerprint identification system developed by Fulcrum Biometrics, a San Antonio-based company.

Working with New Jersey Business Systems, the company used its Fulcrum Biometric Framework to develop a Web-based application that links finger image scanners at DHS service sites and a fingerprint-matching algorithm to the existing New Jersey Homeless Management Information System. While Fulcrum’s Web services interface provides automated information exchange between the two systems, both systems operate independently.

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However, she added, the biometric device doesn’t store pictures of fingerprints, but gathers numerical values that correspond to the unique points on a person’s finger. This method protects the data and gives the DHS accurate numbers to work with.

http://www.govtech.com/health/Biometric-Devices-Delivery-Homeless-Services.html