The Lantern project uses handheld biometric readers with secure GPRS links to the Ident1 national fingerprint database, allowing officers to establish at the roadside whether a suspect has given their real name and address.
It takes a couple of minutes to check for a match with one of the of 6.6 million fingerprints on Ident1, compared with the three-hour process of taking a suspect to the station for the same procedure.