Coast Guard biometrics program expands.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Biometrics

* TAMPA, Fla. -- A Coast Guard effort to collect and analyze biomettic data gathered at sea has expanded and will be made into an official program next year, said a senior technologist from the service.

The Mona Pass, a 90-mile stretch of water between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, has seen a 75 percent drop in the number of interdictions from 2006 to 2008, said Thomas Amerson of the Coast Guard's research and development center.

"I would like to think, and those at Coast Guard headquarters would like to think, that biometrics has had a tremendous impact on the migrant flow in the Mona Pass," Amerson said at the Biometrics Consortium conference

The marine biometric identification program began in November 2006. The goal was to see if Coast Guard crew members could collect fingerprints in harsh maritime conditions, transmit them back to shore-based databases, determine if there were any criminals among the would-be migrants, and sort out who should be immediately repatriated to the Dominican Republic and who should be taken into custody for prosecution.

Of the 1,981 migrants encountered, the Coast Guard successfully collected data from 1,952. About 23 percent of them had matches in criminal databases.

So far, 155 individuals have been brought ashore for prosecution. There is a 100 percent conviction rate so far, Amerson said.

Without deterrence, the program would not be a success, Amerson said. Every interdiction and prosecution is publicized in both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Previously, Dominicans were repatriated to their homeland with no consequences. They were free to attempt another dangerous crossing in homemade wooden boats. There were only about two prosecutions per year prior to...