Anoka County Jail Installs Eye Scan Identification System

ANOKA (AP) - The Anoka County Jail has installed a new eye-scanning identification system that could be the first in Minnesota.

The 11,000 inmates booked into the jail each year will have their irises scanned and the images will be stored.

Jail Cmdr. Dave Pacholl says the system is quicker and more accurate than the standard fingerprint because a person's irises are more distinctive. While an eye scan takes just seconds, a fingerprint check can take five to 15 minutes.

The iris images go into a national FBI database that now stores about 1 million scans. Sheriff's officials will also continue to fingerprint inmates for inclusion in that database.